


Somewhere you can't follow

by Inkedroplets



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, I am Supercorp Trash, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, SuperCorp, Time Mom Sara Lance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:08:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 82,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25088167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkedroplets/pseuds/Inkedroplets
Summary: After Kara confesses that she is Supergirl, she's shocked to not only learn that Lena's known for weeks but that she's seemingly disappeared, leaving only a letter behind. After five long years, Kara is still trying to pick up the pieces of her life but with a new threat to not only National City but the entire world, it may just bring Lena back into her life.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 381
Kudos: 912





	1. Missing

_“And if you ever need me, all you have to do is call.”_  
  
Kara had been in the middle of what she hoped was her latest article’s final edit. She had grown far better at hacking the first draft to ribbons and leaving her with a much more concise and manageable article. It was the final edit that she always struggled with. Trimming what little fat remained while keeping the essential essence of the article was always the most difficult. She rolled her shoulders, feeling them start to cramp and was debating whether or not a break would kill what little momentum she had built up when she heard it.  
  
She recognized the sound immediately and paused just enough to whip off her glasses before flying out the window. It was Lena’s signal watch, the one she had given her after the Pulitzer party after she had finally screwed up the courage to tell Lena the truth that she had kept from her for so long. Even now, she could remember how terrified she had been that she had lost Lena forever, how deeply etched the pain was on her face… But she had come out to introduce her, had promised her that she would always be her best friend...

_If she used the signal watch instead of just calling me,_ Kara pondered, putting on another burst of speed.  
  
As she approached Lena’s penthouse, she quickly scanned it with her X-Ray vision and was surprised when she saw no one inside. She couldn’t possibly be too late…  
  
“Lena?!”  
  
Kara slipped in easily through the open window, once again scanning around, her heart beginning to beat faster when she confirmed that she was alone in the penthouse. She could hear the signal watch still broadcasting from an adjacent room. Zipping inside she was both puzzled and worried when she spotted the watch sitting on the dining room table until she caught sight of the letter it was laying on top of.  
  
_Please, no,_ she thought, already imagining what might have happened to her. It was why she had wanted to keep her identity a secret in the first place, to make sure that Lena was not put into the crosshairs because of her association with Supergirl. She swept the watch away, scooping up the letter, and was shocked to see her own name written on the outside in what she recognized as Lena’s neat delicate script. Well, not her name exactly. The letter was addressed to Supergirl.  
  
_Supergirl,_

 _You’ll be relieved to know that I’m not in any danger. The signal watch was the easiest way to get you here without me having to pretend like I wanted to see you._ _  
_ _  
_ Kara looked up from the letter looking dazed as if she had just caught a hard blow on the chin. This couldn’t be from Lena. It didn’t make any sense. She ran a hand through her hair, looking around, hoping to see Lena step out from another room, to tell her that this was all a misunderstanding. She returned her attention to the letter, dimly aware that her heart had begun beating to a faster rhythm in her chest. 

_I’ve been lying to you for months. I’d feel more guilty about it if you hadn’t lied to me from the beginning. I had known weeks before the Pulitizer Party that you were Supergirl. Lex told me. You watched him fall but you never bothered to look for his body. You should have known that a Luthor would never be so easy to kill. I knew and I was ready. I knew where he would go to lick his wounds. I waited there for him. I sat there in the dark with a gun in my lap, listening to my heartbeat. When I pointed the gun at him, I could feel my body try and rebel but I knew that if I didn’t you would be in danger,, that all the people I thought cared about me would never be safe. I shot him.  
  
As he lay there dying, his final words to me were to tell me that I was a fool, that my best friend was lying to me, that every friend I had was lying to me. He was right. I was a fool. When I came to National City, I vowed to undo all the damage that Lex had done, turn Lex-Corp into a company that would be remembered for it’s contributions to society instead of a footnote at the end of Lex’s mad campaign against Superman. I promised myself that I would never trust anyone again because I had learned over and over that it only ever ended in pain. And then I met you, and I found it harder and harder to remain behind the walls I had built up around me. You tore through each and every one of them so easily with your warmth and your earnestness. You convinced me to trust you, to start trusting others. And against my better judgment, I did.  
  
I confided in you, told you how all of the people in my life had betrayed me. I told you over and over, begging you, not to do the same. The worst part is that I believed you.. You fooled me completely. I was convinced that you loved me, cared for me, only to find out that there wasn’t a single honest moment in our relationship. I underestimated how good of a liar you were Supergirl, you may have more in common with my family than you’d like to admit. Is that why you got close to me? To keep tabs on another Luthor with them none the wiser? It doesn’t matter now, I suppose.  
  
I cried for weeks over you, until all that remained was the person that had come to National City for a new start, the one who knew better than to trust again, to love again. I wanted to hurt you the same way you hurt me, for you to feel a fraction of the pain that you made me feel. I thought about exposing your secret at the party, stringing you along, using you, the same way that you used me until I realized that I would only be confirming what you thought about me all along, that I was a villain that could never be trusted.. I refuse to let you try and change who or what I am ever again. Thank you, Supergirl for finally teaching me a lesson that I needed to learn far too many times. _  
  
“Lena….” 

  
Kara felt frozen to the spot, still clutching the letter in her hand, fresh tears falling down her face. She needed to find her, to explain… She looked around the room, blinking back tears as she levitated a few inches off the ground and shot off through the window she had entered through. 

* * *

  
Alex didn’t need to look at her phone to know who was calling. “I’m sorry, Kara,” she said. She tucked the phone between her head and shoulder as she continued to work. “Nothing so far.” She heard Kara swear even over the sound of wind which meant that Kara was still flying. “Lena’s private jet is still in the hangar and I can’t find any flight records through any channels official or otherwise. I don’t think she flew anywhere but if anyone could get somewhere under the radar-”  
  
“Keep looking,” Kara pleaded. She had already scoured the city several times over looking for Lena. She hadn’t expected to find her at L-Corp or any of the usual spots that she often frequented but that hadn’t stopped her from looking and hoping.  
  
“Kara,” Alex said carefully. “What did Lena’s letter say exactly.” She wasn’t used to Kara keeping her in the dark about anything but when she had called an hour ago she had only told her that Lena knew that she had been lying to her, that she had left a letter and that they needed to find her. Name, rank, and serial number.   
  
“Just keep looking, Alex,” Kara said, cutting the call off abruptly.  
  
Her first instinct was to call her back, to lean heavily on the big sister button that would usually coax out whatever Kara was hiding from her but knew that this time it wouldn’t work and only serve to make Kara more worried than she already was. She still liked their chances, not many people could travel under the radar with Supergirl and the DEO looking for them. _But,_ a voice interjected, slipping in like a draft through a very old window, _if anyone could it would be Lena._ Yes, if anyone had the means and the cunning to find a way to move about undetected it would be Lena, and she was sure that Kara knew that as well.  
  
“Where are you, Lena?” Alex said out loud, running a hand through her hair as she began to comb through security footage of the streets near Lena’s penthouse. 

* * *

Kara had allowed Alex to convince her that they would find Lena soon when they had both come up emptyhanded and Kara had finally been guilted into returning to her apartment to rest after searching through the night and well into the next day. She _wanted_ to believe that it was true. But when the days began to pile up on top of one another and Lena’s disappearance became public knowledge and hit the news cycle she became far less hopeful. 

Her penthouse and L-Corp had seemingly been abandoned and when Kara returned to search for any clue that might point her in the right direction she realized that none of Lena’s belongings were gone. Her suitcases were still stowed in a hall closet and her clothes, jewelry, and other belongings were in their exact place. It looked as if Lena had simply stepped out with every intention to return. A theory that Alex had tossed out, hoping it would do something to assuage her fears.  
  
Kara never truly let herself believe that to be true. She didn’t know where Lena was or even if she was okay but she was sure of one thing, she had no intention of returning to National City. Why return to the city that mistrusted her to the friends that she believed did the same? And to her best friend who had coaxed her into opening her heart again while she had done the one thing that Lena had begged her not to?  
  
After months of searching and more sleepless nights than Kara could count or would admit to, the trail (if there ever really had been one) had run cold. There had been no sign of Lena leaving National City and every plane, bus, or taxi out of the city had been investigated and they had come back with nothing. Lena had seemingly vanished without a trace. Wherever Lena had gone she had gone to great lengths to make sure that no one could find her. Not that Kara had any intention of giving up…  
  


_Five years later_

“Sometimes I think you drag us out to karaoke just to show off,” Nia said. She had her arm looped around Brainy’s waist and it was hard to tell if she was holding onto him so tightly affectionately or because she was having trouble standing, maybe it was a little of both.  
  
“Pfft.” Kara waved her hand out in front of her. “You all sang beautifully!” she said and caught Alex’s eye.  
  
“I told you before we came out that I wasn’t going to sing.”  
  
“And I told you that you are singing twice next time.”  
  
Alex groaned. “Our night out should not revolve around trying to embarrass me publicly.”  
  
“Who’s up for another round?” Nia asked, looking around at everyone trying to gauge everyone’s interest. “I am not going to end my night with Bette Midler.”  
  
“James picked for me,” J’onn reminded her. “But I wouldn’t say no to a drink.  
  
“Alex?” Nia asked.  
  
“Yeah, I am if Kara’s game.”

Kara grinned. “Rain check? I went a little too hard on my solo.”  
  
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Nia teased. “Next time though.” Jerking her head, she motioned to James and J’onn to follow after her, singing a bit under her breath as she walked with Brainy.  
  
“Sure I can’t get you to come out?” Alex asked. She gave Kara’s arm a small tug.  
  
“Next time for sure,” Kara said, widening her smile and giving Alex a little nudge. “Don’t drink too much.”  
  
“I didn’t sing,” she reminded her. “No need to. Call me tomorrow?”  
  
“Of course.” She wrapped her arms tightly around Alex before waving to her and continuing back up the way they had been heading before the detour.  
  
Alex remained rooted to the spot, watching Kara go, already knowing that she had no intention of going home just yet.  
  
Instead of heading home, Kara had walked in the completely other direction, far from the rent-controlled part of town that she called home. She had told herself that she only meant to clear her head before going home but she hadn’t been surprised to see that her feet had carried her to Lena’s penthouse.  
  


Ducking into a side street, Kara very quickly whipped off her glasses, changing into her suit before gently floating up to Lena’s penthouse. As always, it was pitch dark inside but she still searched for any sign of movement before easing the window open and floating inside. If not for the fine layer of dust on everything and most of the furniture wrapped snugly in dust covers, it looked as if no time had passed.  
  
She sat on the couch, instinctively looking over her shoulder to where Lena’s bedroom was as if she expected Lena to come shuffling out to see who had snuck into her place in the middle of the night. Sinking a bit lower, she sat there in the dark, her eyes shut tightly. “I miss you,” she said, her voice sounding louder than it usually did in the silence. “I miss you so much, Lena.” She could try and stop herself from crying like all the other nights before but she doesn’t. She reached for one of the throw pillows at the end of the couch clutching it tight against her chest.


	2. Another day, another aberration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With her time in National City firmly behind her, Lena finds herself faced with the unthinkable

Lena hadn’t been looking for a fresh start in a new city. That was what she had come to National City to do, only to realize that nothing had really changed. She had allowed herself to be fooled once again. There was very little that Lex and she saw eye-to-eye on after he chose to wage a war on Superman but he was right about one thing, she was a fool. She had been tricked into trusting again, into believing that she had found someone in her life that truly cared for her.   
  
She could have hidden away from the world quite well. With her money, resources, and cunning there was very little chance of anyone finding her, not even Supergirl would have an easy time of it. And Lena knew that she would come looking if only to assuage her conscience. Supergirl would have a list of reasons and excuses for why she did what she did. Lies. Lena didn’t want to hear them and she didn’t want to live knowing that she would always need to be looking over her shoulder for Supergirl to come back into her life, which was why she had spent several nights going over L-Corp’s Project Chronos.

L-Corp had dozens of abandoned projects. Most were projects that Lex had started before Lena had taken over that served no practical application beyond killing Kryptonians and others were those that had simply hit a dead-end or become too costly to continue with. Project Chronos had the distinction of checking both boxes.   
  
Funneling a significant amount of money into what was essentially time travel was never an easy sell and while the team in charge of the project had made headway, Lena had been forced to cut the funding all the same. It would be years before the device was ready to be tested and that wasn’t to mention the amount of money that would need to be invested before it was ready to be tested and even then the ethics of human trials was not something that Lena had been willing to sign off on. It was beyond dangerous and with very little guarantee of success.   
  
Even inebriated, Lena could tell that the math was solid. The research that the team had done was sound but that didn’t change the fact that there really were too many variables to call it anything more than a shot in the dark. Not that those odds had ever stopped Lena in the past and it certainly wasn’t going to now. Perhaps a part of her knew that if she allowed herself to sober up, to sleep on it, she might never go through with what she had planned, which was why she hadn’t given herself the chance to. Sitting alone in her penthouse, she wrote Supergirl one final letter to get the last word in, to lash out and try and inflict as much pain as she could before she was gone. That desire served as a harsh reminder of the truth that she had tried so hard to run from, she _was_ a Luthor. Supergirl had once convinced her that she had been more. The memory should be enough to coax fresh tears but none fall.   
  
Holding the Chronos device that is no bigger than a lighter, she trailed her finger over the button while she tested the weight of the signal watch that Supergirl had given her in the other. There is no guarantee of where in time she would find herself spat out in. The past? The future? Before even that? That might have mattered to her once, but all that mattered now was getting away, to somewhere where Supergirl could not follow. Pressing the signal watch, she watched it light up, setting it down on top of the letter before turning her attention to the device in her hand. 

_Goodbye, Kara._

* * *

“Attention Legends, Captain Lance requests that all personnel report to the bridge immediately. I’ve been told to specify that means you as well, Miss Luthor,”   
  
“It’s amazing how far one can run and still not be able to escape unnecessary meetings.”   
  
“You have my most sincere condolences,” Gideon said. “But all the same, I do suggest you make your way down to the bridge.”   
  
“Mmm,” Lena murmured, sitting up from her bed and setting aside the book she had been reading. She had been on the Waverider for nearly five years now. It was not and would never be her home but she had grown accustomed to the ebb and flow of the ship. She had ignored plenty of summons in the past but knew better than to avoid one that specifically called her out by name. Lena may have made it so that no one on the ship (not even Gideon) could enter her room without permission, that didn’t stop Sara from banging on the pipes next door for hours on end when she wanted to punish her. And while she didn’t consider anyone on board the ship her friend, they were a team, which meant that she did need to play ball occasionally.   
  
“And here I thought I was going to have to get the pipe again,” Sara said when she caught sight of Lena coming up the hall. Her expression softened and she waited until Lena had sat down beside Zari before continuing.   
  
“Another day, another aberration,” Sara said, pointing to the screen displaying the historical record.

“Surprising,” Rory muttered. “Not like we have anything better to do.”  
  
“Besides drink, of course, Nate muttered, eyeing the half-finished beer clutched in Rory’s hand. 

“This one is a little different,” Sara said, tapping the screen.   
  
“A level ten.” Ray whistled. “This should be interesting.”   
  
“Yeah,” Sara said as she tried and failed to get Lena’s attention. _Maybe I should have brought the pipe,_ she thought. “Gideon why don’t you explain to the class what we’re dealing with.”   
  
“I thought we agreed it was best if we had someone with a bit more tact to explain it,” Ava whispered, elbowing Sara in the ribs. “No offense, Gideon.”

“Offense very much taken, Miss Sharpe.” 

“I just think that-”  
  
“National City,” Lena said, unable to keep from sounding shocked.   
  
“2020. Barely even the past,” Mick scoffed.   
  
“That still makes it the past,” Nate countered.   
  
“If no one has any objections to me continuing,” Gideon interjected. “Scans of the historical record reveal several publications detailing a meteor shower that devastated National City leaving thousands dead.”   
  
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Lena said. Without even realizing it she had stepped closer to the screen. “They have-”   
  
“If you’ll allow me to finish Miss Luthor. The meteor shower that devastated National City was made up of meteor fragments from the planet Krypton. Supergirl perished in her attempt to protect the city.”   
  
“I can see why it’s a level ten,” Ray said. Anyone have any ideas on how to stop a kryptonite meteor shower?”   
  
“It wouldn’t be easy stopping a normal one,” Lena said, clearly shaken. “Governments around the world have had PHO’s on their radar-”   
  
“Potentially hazardous objects,” Ray added. “Sorry. Go on.”   
  
“They’re more worried about world-ending comets and how to destroy them if their path puts Earth in their crosshairs. Think more Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event and less cheesy disaster flick. And if a world-ending comet is a cannonball, a meteor shower is like a whole lot of buckshot. Stopping all of that would be next to impossible.”   
  
“Supergirl could do it,” Ray said.   
  
“Obviously not,” Mick said and pointed his bottle at one of the pictures of Supergirl on the display.   
  
“We have our aberration,” Sara said, pointing at the screen. “What I don’t know is how we’re supposed to save her.”   
  
“I do,” Lena said, her mouth set into a thin line. “She would need a way to protect her from the kryptonite. A suit that would protect her from the effects of the kryptonite. I could make one.”   
  
“That simple?” Ray wondered.   
  
“Let's hope so,” Sara whispered, exchanging a quick look with Ava. “The city will still need to be evacuated. We’ll be in charge of that while Lena works on making that suit. I need everyone to get ready while Lena works on getting that suit made.”

* * *

“Am I interrupting?” Sara asked as she poked her head into the lab.   
  
“You know you are,” Lena said without looking up from her work. “What do you need, Captain?”   
  
“A minute of your time.”   
  
“Not really in a position to say no,” Lena said, setting down the tablet she had been using to keep track of her math.   
  
“You probably knew already but the Time Bureau has your file.”   
  
“And you’ve read it,” Lena said, not looking surprised in the slightest.   
  
“I did," Sarah admitted.

Lena shrugged. "You'd be a pretty bad captain if you didn't."

"Fair enough. I didn't read everything in your file. I needed to vet you but I think that everyone deserves their secrets. God knows I have enough of my own."

Lena remained silent. She ran a hand through her hair. "And is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to make sure that you were alright with going back to National City."

"I don't plan on staying, Captain Lance."

"Aww. I didn't realize you were that fond of us." A smile spread across her face and quickly fell away when she saw the way that Lena was looking at her. 

"I would appreciate it if you kept my presence on the Waverider to yourself and allow me to stay onboard the ship."

"Someone needs to watch over the ship while we're gone and I'll remind Mick to keep his mouth shut," she assured her.

"Thank you. But I really do need to get back to work."

"Go right ahead." Sara turned to go, walked to the door, and paused there. "Even if the feeling isn't mutual, we're happy to have you aboard." 

The corners of Lena's mouth twitched but she said nothing and remained still until she heard the door close behind Sara. It had been hard enough trying to focus after seeing the historical record and Sara's interruption hadn't helped matters. She had worked very hard to lock away the memories of her time in National City… Of Supergirl. Seeing her face plastered across so many articles had brought those memories bubbling to the surface. The deep wounds that she had hoped had scarred over wept fresh blood and that brought a wave of anger that she was forced to ride out before returning to work. 

* * *

"That was weird right?" Zari asked.

Ray turned to her. "What was?" 

"Lena. And Sara. How often do you see her treat Lena or anyone else with kid gloves? And I just happened to be walking by the lab and overheard the two of them talking. Lena doesn't want anyone knowing she's on the ship."

"Sounds more like spying to me."

"They definitely had a falling out, right?" Zari said, completely sidestepping Ray's accusation. I've never heard her so much as mention either National City or Supergirl once… Not that she's very talkative usually. You know it took three months before she would tell me how she takes her coffee. 

"I don't know. Lena just seems like a very private person," Ray said. "And you'll need to tell me later how she takes her coffee because I made her a cup the other day and the look she gave me… Who doesn't like sugar in their coffee?" 

"Six sugars is a bit much, Ray," Gideon chimed in.

"Now who's spying? Zari teased. "You want to weigh in, Gideon?" 

"On Ray's unhealthy coffee habits or the relationship between Miss Luthor and Supergirl?"

"The latter," Zari said. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're really gossipy for a supercomputer?" 

"Several people. As for Miss Luthor and Supergirl, the two worked together closely several times up until Miss Luthor's disappearance and her subsequent joining of the team. In her civilian identity, Supergirl and Miss Luthor shared a friendship that one tabloid called 'suspiciously close'. Not long after that, Miss Luthor sued the tabloid for libel which led to their bankruptcy."

"All the more reason to stop speculating," Sarah said as she walked through the door. "Lena's priority is making the suit and ours is making sure we help evacuate everyone we can while providing Supergirl backup and no one is to tell her that Lena is on board."

"And why do we need to do that?" Zari asked, tilting her head slightly looking very cat-like.

"Because your Captain said so. Gideon?"

"Yes, Captain Lance?"

"Set a course for National City 2020."

"Of course."

Lena felt the Wave Rider pick up speed. She looked up from the fabricator which was beginning the arduous task of making the anti-kryptonite suit. The design was of her own making, an ace in the hole to protect Supergirl from her brother… Her mouth set itself into a firm line, her jaw clenched. She had tried not to think about Lex either since arriving on the Wave Rider but much like Supergirl she had no power over her dreams and found herself waking from dreams where one or both had intruded. 

Feeling the ship slow she knew that they had arrived. She closed her eyes tightly. She could feel the familiar tightness in her chest as her whole body began to tremble. The opening chorus of a panic attack. She was back in the one place she had promised herself she would never return to. _It will be quick. It will be quick,_ she told herself. 

  
  
_She will be OK..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plotting still ongoing but it's looking like this will end up being a long one. Hope you all enjoy the ride


	3. Easier said than done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With time running out, Lena finds herself faced with a difficult choice while her absence is felt more keenly in the city than she realizes

“Remind me again why Princess gets to stay on the ship?” Mick asked as they all piled into the jump ship, elbowing past Ray in a bid for a bit more personal space.    
  
“Because she’s the only one that can make the suit to protect Supergirl from the meteor shower,” Sarah said, trying to make sure she had enough elbow room to steer properly.   
  
“Yeah, but is that the only reason?” Zari asked, once again trying to catch Sara’s eye.   
  
“You do know I can hear all of you?” Lena’s voice came in over the comms.   
  
“Why do you think I asked?” Mick said.    
  
“The fabricator can only work so fast,” Lena said, ignoring Mick entirely. “I’m going as fast as I can but I still need more time. With that much kryptonite in the air and the velocity that it will be entering Earth’s atmosphere, the suit not only needs to be durable enough to withstand impacts without the suit rupturing but it needs to be able to filter out the massive amounts of kryptonite in the air.”   
  
"Sorry I asked," Mick muttered.  
  
“How much more time do you need?” Sara asked, “because we don’t have a whole lot of it.”    
  
“I’ll call you when it’s ready," Lena said before cutting the connection.

"Helpful," Sara said, guiding the jump ship down into the city, circling around as she looked for a place to land. "First things first. We need to find Supergirl." 

"That shouldn't be too hard," Nate said. He pointed upward and used his hand to block out the sun with his hand to get a better look at the figure floating closer. Even in the very light breeze, Supergirl's cape fluttered impressively, touching down on the ground next to them with her arms crossed over her chest. 

"Sara?" Kara said, hovering closer to get a better look. "I thought you were an alien ship. "What are all of you doing here?" 

"Nope, just your ragtag bunch of time-traveling misfits. I wish we could say this was a social visit but we have a problem. A big one."

* * *

"Gideon, how much longer until the meteor shower?"

"I must remind you, Miss Luthor, you begged me for silence not five minutes ago. I assume that you've changed your mind?"

"Yes," Lena said sourly.

"The first meteors were recorded falling at three o'clock which leaves you-"

"With not enough time." 

"I wasn't going to say anything. Currently, the likelihood of you completing the suit before the meteor shower is very low to moderate."

"You could give my mother a run for her money in the encouragement department, Gideon. But you're right. There is too much work and too little time." 

"Should I alert the other Legends?"

"No! There is a solution here, I'm just not seeing it." She rubbed at her temples. There was no Eureka moment or epiphany to be had, she only needed more time… "Time…" Lena said. "Gideon, tell me what happened to my penthouse."

"As you were never declared legally dead after your disappearance, all of your property never passed to your beneficiary."

"Then I need to make a stop, Gideon."

"Did you change your mind about leaving the ship, Miss Luthor?" 

"No," she answered grimly. "But I don't have a choice."

It seemed like a lifetime ago now but Lena had been designing a similar suit for Supergirl. It had been an ace in the hole in the very likely chance that Lex tried using kryptonite against her.  _ No chance of that happening now,  _ a voice that sounded very much like Lex reminded her. 

"Do you mind filling me in on your plan or do you enjoy keeping me in the dark?" Gideon asked. 

"I can cut the fabrication time down immensely if I merge the current design of the anti-kryptonite suit with a prototype that I was working on before I-"

"Joined the Legends?"

Lena settled herself in the Captain's seat before checking that the ship was still cloaked before setting off, purposefully flying above the clouds. "Yeah. That." 

* * *

Stepping into her penthouse again felt so much like a dream that Lena did in fact pinch herself on the arm. Very little had changed from what she could see, except for the fact that nearly every bit of furniture was now covered with sheets that were thick with dust. All except the sofa which she didn’t even notice as she walked straight to her old bedroom. 

The mirror was covered in an impressive film of dust but the moment she pressed her thumb to a place near the left corner it lit up. The mirror turned a brilliant white before the words 'Welcome back, Miss Luthor' flashed across the screen. A sad smile spread across her face and even though it was merely a program she still found herself shaking her head as she began to type away at the small keyboard that sprung out from a compartment. She found the file after a couple of minutes of searching, relieved to see that she really had gotten as far on the prototype as she thought she had. 

"Gideon, I'm sending you the file now."

"Scanning. Yes, this in addition to the research you did aboard the Wave Rider should reduce the fabrication time by nearly seventy percent."

Lena touched the mirror again, the display disappearing immediately before turning on her heel to leave. She came to a stop when she passed the couch. It was the one thing in her apartment not covered in dust. Bending over the coffee table in front of it she picked up a picture frame and turned it over nearly dropping it when she saw who was in it. It was the picture that she had kept on her desk at L-Corp. The one of Kara and her with their faces pressed close together… But what was it doing here? 

"Miss Luthor?"

"I'm coming, Gideon.” She set the photo face down on the table before she walked to the door. She didn't look back. 

* * *

Sara had never taken much stock in large organizations. Rip had once called the Time Bureau a scalpel and the Legends themselves a sledgehammer. She didn’t exactly disagree with that particular assessment but it was them that always put things right, even if they had to mess up several times before they did it properly. But even she had to admit that the DEO’s response was impressive. Having Supergirl vouch for you seemed to go a long way.   
  
“How is the evacuation going?” Sara asked Alex, keeping one eye on the timer that was on display on the largest screen in the room.    
  
“Good, but not good enough.” She brought up the map of the city that she had been monitoring, enlarging it. “If we had a few more hours, maybe,” Alex said but she still sounded skeptical. “I hate to sound like a broken record but Kara’s suit…”   
  
“I promise it will be here,” Sara assured her. Alex had already asked her the same question at least a dozen times. She only wished that she could be a bit more specific.   
  
I’m sorry, it’s just-”   
  
“You don’t have to explain. She’s your sister, I get it.” Sara looked away for a moment and felt Ava take her hand. She was able to muster a small smile and mouth a silent ‘thank you’ to her that went unnoticed by Alex.    
  
“I’d tell Kara to evacuate too if I thought she would,” Alex admitted.    
  
“Stubborn, I get that too. That’s everybody aboard the Waverider. Except maybe Ray and I think he’s just too polite for you to actually notice.”    
  
“You never told me who’s making Kara the suit.”   
  
“Gideon,” Sara lied, exchanging a quick glance with Ava. “Supercomputer, very snarky and  _ very  _ gossipy but still super.”    
  
“That makes sense,” Alex said and smiled sadly. “There was someone that we knew that would have been able to make Kara a suit like that...” She pursed her lips. “I’m just thankful you showed up when you did.”    
  
“It’s what we do,” Sarah said. “Let me go check on your sister’s suit.”    
  
She walked off to find a semi-private corner while Ava sidled closer, looking at the map of National City. “So,” she said in an effort to make small talk. “How do you and Sara know each other?”   
  
_ That’s perfect,  _ Sara thought, wondering if Lena had the right idea staying on the Waverider. “Please tell me you have good news for me?”   
  
“Define good,” Lena replied.   
  
“Oh, you know, I finished the anti-kryptonite suit but I was just waiting for Sara to call because I love being theatrical.”   
  
“I  _ don’t  _ love being theatrical but the suit is just about done fabricating. I was just about to call you to come and get it.”   
  
“First bit of good news today. I’m on my way.”   
  


* * *

  
“Is this it?”   
  
“Well don’t sound too excited,” Lena said. Her normally tidy hair had been tied back into a very messy ponytail that looked to be on the verge of coming undone. “It’s the best I could do on such short notice and with the help that I’m given to work with.”   
  
“I beg your pardon, Miss Luthor?” Gideon said, sounding highly affronted.    
  
“I was just kidding, Lena. This is amazing.” Sara held up the disc-like object and examined it from another angle. “It’s just a lot smaller than I expected.”    
  
“If you were Mick I would think you were trying to make a crude joke.”   
  
“Who said I wasn’t?”   
  
The corners of Lena’s mouth twitched but not quite enough for her to smile. “All Supergirl will need to do is place it on her chest. The suit will attach itself automatically. The symbol on her chest will act as the release mechanism, she just needs to press it to activate it. The suit isn’t infallible though, if there is too much kryptonite in the air or she sustains damage to the suit the filtration system won’t be able to function as intended.”    
  
“Press to release, don’t get cocky and don’t take any direct hits from any space debris,” Sara said, ticking each one off on her fingers.   
  
“That is the gist of what I just said.”    
  
“You know,” Sara said. “If you're so worried about playing telephone with your guidelines, you could always go down and tell her y-”   
  
“No,” Lena said flatly.   
  
“Just thought I’d ask.” Sara pocketed the device and turned to go. “No one knows you’re here,” Sara assured her. “We wouldn’t want to lose another Legend, especially as one as grumpy as you.”    
  
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lena said quietly. “Especially not back to National City.“

When we get back to the ship, you  _ are  _ celebrating with us. No getting out of that, I’m afraid, unless you want to see how long I can bang on the pipes outside your room.”   
  
“We’ll see.” She ran a hand through her hair, thinking about taking the opportunity to shower without anyone pounding on the door to be let in when she suddenly remembered something, chasing after Sara and catching her just as she was climbing into the jump ship.   
  
“Forget something?” Sara asked.    
  
“Just one thing. The suit’s filtration system makes it cumbersome. Maybe if I had more time I could streamline it more but we obviously don’t. Just warn Supergirl that the suit will be uncomfortable, she’s claustrophobic. Or don’t,” she added, already walking away, muttering to herself.    
  
“I’ll tell her,” Sara called back, watching Lena’s retreating figure for a bit before climbing into the jump ship.

It wasn’t to the shower that Lena headed to after Sara left on the jump ship but the galley. She wasn’t in the least bit hungry but she could use a drink or two. Being back in National City… In many ways, it felt like she had never left. The world had kept spinning without Lena Luthor in it but to her, it felt as if it had simply been standing still waiting for her to return. Her heart still ached just as keenly as it had when she had left and her memories had not faded nearly as much as she would have liked.    
  
“It might be a good time to remind you that the food fabricator is capable of replicating more than just alcohol,” Gideon said as Lena pulled a full bottle of scotch from it.    
  
“Good to know.” She fished around in the cupboard for a glass before sitting down at the table, pouring a healthy splash in before draining it in one large gulp. She made a face before pouring herself a second glass. She looked up thoughtfully, swirling the glass in her hand. “Gideon?”   
  
“Yes, Miss Luthor?”   
  
“If I swear you to secrecy are you able to keep a secret?”   
  
“Able and bound by my protocols to do so.”   
  
Lena arched an eyebrow. “Consider yourself sworn to secrecy.”    
  
“Noted.”

* * *

  
Sara held out the small disc-like object to Kara, her brow furrowed ever so slightly trying to recall just what Lena had wanted her to relay.  _ I really should have written it down,  _ she thought. “You can attach it here,” she said and pointed to her chest.    
  
“Can I see it for a moment?” Brainy asked. He stretched out his hand without even giving Sara enough time to reply.    
  
“Knock yourself out.”   
  
“Thank you.” He turned it over in his hand, his brow furrowed examining it quite closely before handing it to Kara. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. “My apologies.”   
  
Kara took the small device from him and pressed it to the symbol on her chest, jumping a bit when the disc sprang to life, stretching over the insignia on her chest.    
  
“You should know, the suit won’t work if you take too much damage and it can only filter out so much kryptonite so don’t bite off more than you can chew. We’ll provide as much backup as we can, keep evacuating those in the city."   
  
“We really appreciate it. Both your help and for this,” she said and pointed to the device on her chest. "Please tell Gideon thank you as well."  
  
"I will."  
  
But, how do I put it on exactly?”   
  
“Before you do, I was supposed to warn you about something. I heard that you're claustrophobic. I’m afraid the suit will be a little snug. Just wanted to give you a heads up before you put it on.”    
  
Kara frowned. “Thanks for the warning.”   
  
“When you need to put it on just tap the symbol on your chest.” Sara looked over at the display to check how much time they had left and frowned. “Ava and I will take the jump ship, try to evacuate some of the people stuck deep in the city. Once the meteors start falling…”   
  
“I’m going to go and try and find any stragglers, get them out of the city before it’s too late, and get used to wearing the suit,” Kara said. She tapped the symbol on her chest, the device seeming to liquify as it began to spread over her suit. The helmet was the last piece to form. Once it closed, Kara's breathing grew heavier and her knees appeared to buckle for a moment.  
  
“Kara,” Alex said softly. “You got this.”   
  
Kara merely nodded, levitating a few inches off the ground. “I’ll be back.” There was a gust of strong wind as she flew off.    
  
“We should go too,” Sara said. “We’ll rendezvous back here when it’s time, try to minimize the damage to the city.”   
  
“Good luck,” Alex said.   
  
Brainy who had been deep in thought, looked up just as Ava and Sara were leaving, returning to Alex’s side. “That device…”   
  
“What about it?”    
  
He shook his head. “It’s curious. The design of the suit, a radiation-controlled proto-environment it is very impressive.”   
  
“They are time travelers.”   
  
Brainy shook his head. “No, it’s not that… I feel as if I’ve seen that craftsmanship before. It’s very familiar.”    
  
"There is something strange though," Alex said.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"How did Gideon know that Kara is claustrophobic?"   


* * *

How had they missed this? With as stringently as the DEO scanned for possible extraterrestrial threats it seemed impossible that they miss something like this… If they hadn’t evacuated the city? Kara didn’t even want to think about that. With her vision, she could see the oncoming meteor shower approaching ever closer, that sinister hint of green among many of the meteors as they continued on their approach toward Earth.   
  


They were out of time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working title for the next chapter: A big mess.


	4. Legends only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the meteors start to fall, Lena tries to help out the only way she can while Kara suffers some surprising losses

Kara wasn’t used to hearing her own heartbeat so keenly as she could as she flew back to the DEO. The suit was meant to protect her from the kryptonite that would soon be raining down on the city but that didn’t make it any more comfortable. Trying to ignore it was impossible, in fact, the more she tried _not_ to think about it, the more she wished that she didn’t have to wear it at all. With the shower approaching but not quite there, it was tempting to remove the suit but thought better of it. The relief she would feel would only make having to put it on again that much worse. _It will be quick_ . _It will be quick,_ she told herself. She put on a burst of speed, circling once before landing in front of the DEO right in front of a very unsurprised Alex.  
  
“You know you could have evacuated too,” Kara said. She hadn’t even tried broaching the subject with Alex, already knowing that it would have been a waste of both time and breath.  
  
“Not a chance. Someone has to watch your back.”  
  
“Which is why we’re here,” Sara said. She had just stepped off the jump ship followed closely by Ava who was leading a young couple towards the DEO.  
  
“We were flying them out of the city when we had to turn back around, we wouldn’t have made it out in time,” Ava said, looking apologetic.  
  
“They’ll be safe here,” Alex said kindly. She gestured to two agents who waved the couple over, leading them inside the building.  
  
“We won’t be able to get any more people out of the city. How many can you shelter inside?”  
  
“As many as you can bring. The DEO isn’t indestructible but it’s probably the safest place in the city.”  
  
“I can locate any civilians still stuck inside the city, call them out if your team can get to them,” Kara said, her voice ever so slightly muffled from the helmet. “It would be easier to do if we were on the same comm frequency.”  
  
“We can do that. Just let me give uh, Gideon, a heads up.” She flashed Kara a very toothy smile and turned ever so slightly away from her.  
  
“Gideon?”  
  
“Yes, Captain Lance?”  
  
“Tell… Yourself... that we’re going to be sharing a channel with everyone at the DEO, Supergirl included and if you don’t want to be overheard-”  
  
“Message received, Captain. Good luck.”  
  
Sara gave both Kara and the rest of the Legends a thumbs up before switching the comms over. “Everyone knows what they have to do. Ray, you stay here with Alex. You’re on meteor duty. Any of them that are too large, shrink them down and make them less of a problem. Everyone else, you go where Supergirl tells you to go and don’t wind up in the path of any falling space junk.”  
  


“While Princess puts her feet up and drinks,” Mick muttered. “Next mission I get to stay on the ship and drink.”  
  
“Can a Supercomputer drink?” Alex asked.  
  
“I’m more interested in finding out why he calls it Princess,” Nia whispered, looking from Mick to Sara.  
  
“Pep talk over,” Sara said, giving Ava’s arm a tug. “Good luck everyone, and Mick…” She gave his arm a yank and leaned close under the guise of examining his Heat Gun. “I’m sure _Gideon_ is not on the ship drinking,” Sara hissed. 

* * *

“For someone who has said in the past that they trust technology more than people, you seem rather unconvinced about how strictly I am bound to my protocols,” Gideon said after Lena had checked for the third time that she would, in fact, keep her secrets.  
  
“You are the exception Gideon.”  
  
“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment.”  
  
“That’s the spirit,” Lena muttered, holding up her glass and setting it back down without taking a drink.  
  
“Am I correct in assuming that your desire to stay aboard the ship is related to Supergirl?” 

  
Lena smirked. “Not just her. It’s all of them.” She picked up her glass again, swirling it thoughtfully. “Luthors are good at holding grudges. It’s been five years and I’m still just as angry. Still just as hurt… I thought that they were different but I was wrong. Wrong for trusting them and wrong for not knowing better after all this time. And the most pathetic thing is Gideon, despite how much I hate her, how much she hurt me, a part of me still misses her.”  
“The feeling appears to be a mutual one. The historical record shows that Supergirl never gave up on the search for Lena Luthor.”  
  
“I’m sure she didn’t. An unaccounted Luthor on the run? I’m sure she never stopped searching for me.”  
  
“Or pining by the looks of it. When you sent me the file from your penthouse I took the liberty of scrubbing you from the security footage inside. Besides yourself, the only other person that has entered your penthouse in years is Kara Danvers, and rather frequently, I might add.”  
  
“Why would she do that?” The words escaped Lena’s mouth before she was able to stop herself.  
  
“Judging from her tears and the photo she often looks at, I would say that she misses you. If you’d like to judge for yourself I would be happy to playback the footage for you to make your own assessment.”  
  
“No, that won’t be necessary, and erase that footage as well.”  
  
“May I ask why?”  
  
_Because I’ll want to see her._ “Because I said so, Gideon.”  
  
There was her answer. That was how the photo from her office had found its way into her penthouse and why the couch had been the one piece of furniture uncovered… It changed nothing and Lena might have told Gideon as much if the ship wasn’t struck by a meteor the size of a grapefruit. It crashed into the Waverider’s hull and bounced harmlessly off the deflectors with enough force to slosh a bit of Lena’s drink over the edge of her glass and onto the galley table.

“It’s started.” 

  
“Perhaps it would be best if we continue our ‘girl talk’ on the bridge?” Gideon suggested.  
  
“I told you not to call it that,” Lena muttered, glancing skyward before beginning to make her way back to the bridge. 

Another loud crash sent her listing into the wall, clinging to it for a moment to regain her balance before continuing, looking more annoyed than frightened. Sliding into the Captain’s chair, she found herself frozen for a moment at seeing the sheer number of meteors falling, some of them already impacting the city.  
  
“Gideon, display Supergirl’s suit readings.” A smaller barrage of meteors hit one of the viewing windows just as Lena laid on the throttle sending the ship careening past two large meteors. “If I had known there were going to be so many meteors I would have had Sara give Supergirl a far stricter warning.” _That or told her not to go at all,_ she thought.  
  


“I don’t think Captain Lance will be very happy to find out about you flying the Waverider while intoxicated.”  
  
“I think it’s preferable to being crushed.” Sending the ship into a dive, Lena’s attention was divided between the veritable minefield of meteors filling the sky and the readings of Supergirl’s suit. Her work had been impeccable, Lena would have never signed off on it if it hadn’t been but the meteor shower… It wasn’t the kind of stress test that she would have liked to put it through on its first outing. Even before Sara had left in the jump ship, she had already thought up a number of improvements she would have liked to make if she ever made another suit.  
  
“If you don’t want me flying, Gideon, you take the controls.”  
  
“You don’t intend to leave the city, I take it?”  
  
“I said I wanted to stay on the ship, Gideon, I never said I didn’t want to help. The prototype I designed in National City was always meant as armor against someone weaponizing kryptonite against Supergirl. It will do a far better job of protecting her if it’s allowed to filter out some of the kryptonite instead of merely trying to block its radiation.”  
  
“I don’t think the Captain would be very happy about you manning the ship’s blasters either, Miss Luthor.”  
  
“Let her bang on my bedroom door some more with that damn pipe if she wants. Take us up, Gideon.”  
  


* * *

  
  
“Is that the Waverider?” Ray asked, aiming his ion cannon at a meteor, missing, aiming again, and hitting it dead center. The meteor shrank rapidly from the size of a basketball to that of a golf ball, burying itself deep into the pavement not twenty feet from the DEO.  
  
The only answer he got was the sound of the blasters firing repeatedly, breaking up two meteors into fragments that splintered off losing much of their speed as they careened down towards Earth. The Waverider dove steeply before rising again, flying straight up into the meteor shower, the blasters disintegrating a number of small meteors leaving behind a greenish glittering cloud behind.  
  
Kara had very nearly tried using her heat vision through her helmet when the shower first started. Even if she had been able to use it, the sheer number of meteors would have made it impossible for her to get them all. How damaged would National City be when all of this was over? She pushed that worry from her mind, scanning both above and below. She spotted a couple huddled in a coffee shop that Kara recognized. It was one that she had met Lena for brunch several times… Even now, amidst the chaos she felt the sharp sting of memory, not letting that distract her.  
  
“Mick, there’s a couple two blocks over from where you are now, coffee shop, huddled near the back.”  
  
“On my way, Skirt.”  
  
_I don’t even have a skirt anymore,_ Kara thought. A meteor passed inches from her. Even with the suit, she expected to feel the strength drain from her, feel as if nails were being pushed into every inch of her skin as if her blood might actually have caught fire… But she felt none of that. The suit’s HUD flashes and Kara can see that it is actively protecting her from what in one possible future would have killed her.  
  
Planting herself in the path of one the size of a small boulder she reaches out, slowing its descent before throwing it with enough force to send it into the river. “Zari? There are a few people taking refuge under the tables at the Big Belly Burger to your right. _The one I would get takeout from for Lena and me._ Why think of that now of all times?  
  
“Coffee shop just got some unwanted renovations but the couple is safe,” Mick said. Taking them back now.”  
  
“Ditto on the Big Belly Burger. I really hope National City has some nice insurance. That or some aloof, billionaire that fights crime on the side,” Zari said. “  
  
_Never asked Lena her net worth,_ Sara pondered. She had swung the jump ship back around and flown low enough to the ground to scoop a woman and her cat into the ship before punching the throttle forward. “What do you think about getting a pet?”  
  
“I’m not cleaning up after any pets,” Mick grunted.  
  
“I hate to agree with Mick but we do have just the one bathroom, I really don’t want to clean up another one,” Nate added, “no matter how small it is.”  
  
“I was talking to Ava and Ava only, Sarah muttered.  
  
“They are rather talkative, aren’t they?” Brainy had been lost in thought and only just seemed to realize how dire things had become.  
  
“I’ll take talkative over broody,” Alex said. In her current mood, she was broody enough for all of them combined. Even with her keeping a close eye on Kara and seeing that the suit was working as intended she couldn’t shake the fear that something _might_ happen to her. “How are you feeling, Kara?”  
  
“Huh?” She had hovered closer to the Big Belly Burger while she did her best to intercept some of the smaller meteors either diverting them or crushing them in her hands. What remained of the roof was barely hanging on in such a way that it reminded her of a hangnail. Looking a few blocks over, the coffee shop appeared to be in the same condition. Damaged. Maybe beyond repair, maybe not but both reminders of what Kara had lost. She had made the biggest mistake of her life and found herself without a chance to even say goodbye. Left without a chance to apologize, to try and make things right. All she had now were her memories and watching them destroyed one-by-one somehow hurt worse than kryptonite ever could.  
  
“I’m fine, Alex. Just fine.”  
  


* * *

  
“It looks to be letting up.” Lena had _never_ liked flying.That hadn’t stopped her from getting her pilot’s license, but that had been more of a pragmatic decision than anything else. She _could_ trust or at least she had been able to once, but she always put far more stock in her own abilities than anyone else’s. Gideon’s piloting though had been more than acceptable, not that Lena was going to inform her of that.  
  
With the sky clearing, Lena’s gaze focused mainly on the display of Supergirl’s suit readings. Spiking but still well within an acceptable range. With the sheer amount of kryptonite on the ground and still in the air it didn’t surprise her in the slightest. “We’ll do one more sweep and then think about finding a place to land. Maybe we-”  
  
“Miss Luthor.”  
  
“I see it, Gideon.’  
  


Here was the potentially hazardous object that Lena had warned the Legends about. The kind of asteroid or meteor that you should find in a summer blockbuster rather than real life. “It’s too big.” Her thumbs were still raised over the blasters but they fell away as Gideon took them in a wide arc around it. Even if the blasters were strong enough to break through the meteor, it would splinter off and land God knows where.  
  
“Gideon, where is that thing going to land in the city and how much damage is it going to do?”  
  
“I’m plotting its trajectory now but the damage to National City will be catastrophic. If the meteor continues on course, it will land here.” A 3-D image of the city was displayed focusing on the impact zone of the meteor. “There doesn’t appear to be any civilians in either the building or in the impact zone.”  
  
“Thank God. I don’t know how anyone could miss _that_ but warn them anyway. Supergirl needs to get as far away from that as she can, all of them do.” 

  
They all saw the approaching meteor. Even Kara could only gape at it, feeling even from that distance the faint effects of kryptonite, her skin beginning to itch painfully.  
  
“Kara, you need to get the hell out of there, right now!”  
  
“I…” Kara knew that Alex was right. A quick scan of the area that the meteor was headed to showed that there had been no one left behind. She should be the one to fly any those on the team closest to the potential crash site as far away as possible but she hesitated.  
  
“I can’t…”  
  
“What?!”  
  
“Gideon? What did she just say? Shooting down meteors had been more taxing mentally than Lena had expected and had been slumped in the Captain's seat but now sat straight up, leaning closer to the ship’s speakers.  
  
“Kara, this is not the time to be stubborn. There are no civilians there for you to save and that amount of kryptonite is too dangerous for you, even with the suit.”  
“I can slow it down, divert it somewhere else.”  
  
“I don’t-”  
  
“It’s Lena’s penthouse,” Kara said softly.  
  
Alex’s face fell, the pieces beginning to fall into place. “I understand,” she said as calmly as she could, her fingers digging roughly into the arms of her chair. “But you can’t do this Kara, you just can’t. It’s too dangerous and Lena is... “  
  
“I know she’s not coming back! But I can’t just let it be destroyed, Alex. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Kara!” Alex could hear an uncomfortably loud static hum and knew that Kara had turned her comms of. Tears began to form and she brought her fist down on the console hard enough to shatter several keys. “Why is she so s-”  
  
“Stupid!” Lena had risen from the Captain’s chair and started pacing. With the meteor drawing closer, Lena could see that Supergirl’s suit readings were already dangerously high. The filtration system was being overwhelmed and overtaxed.  
  
“If we used the photon torpedoes, Gideon, could we destroy it?”  
  
“Unlikely, and with Supergirl approaching the meteor any attempts to destroy it run the risk of her being hit with any fragments from the meteor that do splinter off.”  
  
Lena could hear chaos on the comms, only one voice among the group missing. Shutting her eyes she reached for the console, flipping a switch on it that she had intentionally shut off when she had returned to the bridge. Taking a deep breath, Lena glanced down at the ship’s controls looking for the button she would need before speaking.  
  
“If you want to save Supergirl I need everyone to be quiet and let me explain how to do it.”  
  
Lena half-expected pushback, for someone to say something and when no one did, she let out a small sigh of relief. “She’ll need yellow sun radiation. I assume the DEO has something in case of emergencies. Ray, I need you to try and shrink the meteor as much as you can. I’m not expecting a miracle but a piece of kryptonite that size _will_ kill her even with the suit.”  
  
“Lena?” Alex couldn’t stop herself. Kara’s refusal to listen to reason had seemed like such a nightmare that she still wasn’t convinced she wasn’t dreaming.  
  
“Just be ready.”  
  
Lena could see Supergirl ascending to meet the meteor just as she was. She was obviously feeling the effects of the kryptonite as she was far slower than even the Waverider. It did seem to be shrinking but it was still so big… Pushing the throttle forward, her thumb hovered over the tractor beam button. “Still too far,” she hissed. She could see Supergirl, no longer flying now but falling.  
  
_God, please don’t let me miss._  
  
She jammed her thumb onto the button, not able to even verify that she had hit the mark, immediately dropping the ship into a sharp dive.  
  
“Here!” Alex yelled.  
  
As Lena set the Waverider down, Alex was waiting to meet them. With the help of two agents, she quickly loaded Kara onto a stretcher and carried her inside, shouting orders to anyone who would listen. Before the doors shut behind her, she cast one last look back at Lena, her face inscrutable.  
  
The rest of the Legends had gathered as well, quickly forming a circle around Lena.  
  
“Thought you wanted to stay on the ship,” Mick said. He had a rather sizable goose egg on his head that he couldn’t stop himself from touching every few seconds.  
  
“I did,” Lena said baldly.  
  
“Could have fooled me.”  
  
“Some nice flying. Might think you’re gunning for my job,” Sara teased.  
  
“If she sets a bathroom schedule she has my vote,” Zari muttered.  
  
“Lena?” Brainy pushed past the small crowd of DEO agents, making a beeline for Lena, genuine shock on his normally placid face, only for Mick to plant himself firmly between him and her. “Sorry, Egghead. Legends only.”  
  
Sara looked apologetic but nodded in agreement. “Come on. The day is saved and with lots of collateral damage, so a very normal mission for us. I don’t know about any of you but I could use a drink.” Looping an arm around Lena’s shoulder she was pleased to see that she didn’t immediately push her away.  
  
“I did say you weren’t getting out of celebrating with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for showing so much enthusiasm for the story, it means a lot!


	5. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With disaster seemingly averted, Lena finds herself drawn back to a place she never thought she would see again while she makes peace with the idea that she may be in National City longer than she intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll begin to compile a playlist for this story in the near future. This chapter's song is "Maybe" by The Chantels.

Halfway back to the ship, Lena slipped free of Sara’s arm that had been wrapped almost vice-like around her shoulder as if she expected her to bolt. “There’s an emergency failsafe built into Supergirl’s anti-kryptonite suit. It should be able to purge some of the kryptonite radiation she received by being in such close proximity to the meteor… I should go to make sure that it’s working correctly.”   
  
“I could go tell them if you like, Lena,” Ray suggested.   
  
“No,” Lena said and shook her head, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “It’s my tech, my responsibility.”   
  
“I’ll go with her,” Ava said. “I don’t feel great about leaving this.” She gestured around, not needing to explain any further. The team may have prevented countless casualties but they had been able to do very little to reduce the damage to the city. “See if we can do anything to help.”   
  
Sara nodded. “We’ll save the celebration until we’re all back on the ship.”    
  
“Speak for yourself,” Mick yelled, already stepping onto the ship.    


* * *

Lena was secretly glad that Ava had elected to stay behind as well. She wasn’t sure if she had done it more for her benefit or simply because she couldn’t imagine leaving an organization that likely reminded her so much of the Time Bureau in the lurch. She had acclimated quickly to life aboard the Waverider but Lena wouldn’t have blamed her if she didn’t sometimes miss The Bureau. For all their many shortcomings, it had been like a second-home to Ava for a long time, Lena knew how hard that was to make a clean break…    
  
“Supergirl is this way,” Brainy said, falling into step beside them before walking a little faster to overtake them. He had not taken being rebuffed personally but had not attempted to approach Lena again at least until she marched back into the DEO.    
  
“I can sense that you’re not happy to see me,” Brainy said. From anyone else it would have sounded like an accusation but from Brainy it sounded like nothing more than a declaration of the facts. He pointed down a corridor where the sounds of arguing could be heard quite easily. Brainy paused, looking as if there was something more he would like to say before he nodded and went back the way he came.    
  
“Let her through,” Alex barked the moment that she noticed Lena come into the room. The small team of doctors immediately scattered and allowed Lena to pass. They had been obscuring the viewing window looking into the room where Supergirl lay surrounded by dozens upon dozens of yellow sun lamps.    
  


Glancing at the screen monitoring Supergirl’s vitals, Lena felt her heart drop. How close had she been to dying? How close was she still? “I need to get in that room.” Lena could have explained but knew that doing so would be wasting time that they didn’t have. Luckily Alex seemed to think the same because she pressed a button on the console in front of her that disengaged the heavy lock on the door.    
  
“Take these,” Alex said and shoved a pair of goggles into Lena’s hands.   
  
Lena took them, put them on, and stepped inside the room shutting the door behind her. Standing at Supergirl’s side she could see how labored her breathing was, how difficult each breath seemed to be. Not wasting any time, Lena ‘s fingers glided over the device on Supergirl’s chest, searching for a small button near the center. Her fingers brushed over it and she pressed it. “The emergency failsafe should have activated on its own but the sheer amount of radiation from the kryptonite must have stopped it. The suit will burn itself out but it should purify some of the kryptonite that Supergirl has absorbed.” At least, that was how she had designed the suit, it remained to be seen if it would actually work as intended.    
  
Nearly a minute passed with no visible change. Lena could hear her heart thumping nervously in her chest, her hands balled into tight nervous fists.   
  
“It’s working,” Alex said, her voice coming in through an intercom in the room. “Her vitals are stabilizing.”   
  
“Thank God,” Lena whispered. A moment later the suit’s nanites began to destabilize, more and more of it disappearing until all that remained was the device that detached itself from Supergirl’s suit. Lena reached out to take it when Supergirl’s hand reached up and closed weakly over her wrist. Lena’s eyes widened, too shocked to do anything. Meaning to pull her hand away as gently as she could, she felt Supergirl’s fingers slide along her palm before closing around her hand, gripping tighter than before.    
  
Lena took a deep breath turning her hand over slowly so that their palms met. Lena squeezed gently, holding Kara’s hand for a few minutes before easing her hand out from her grip.    
  
Exiting the room, Lena removed her goggles, instinctively stowing them around her neck before remembering that she wouldn’t be staying. Holding out the goggles to Alex, she glanced back towards the room. “She’ll need more time for the kryptonite to work its way out of her system. It could be another day or two or it could be a week but she does seem to be out of the woods.”   
  
Alex nodded, tears shining in her eyes. She had been watching Kara’s vitals like a hawk but getting confirmation from someone else that Kara would be okay reassured her far more. It made it more difficult for the doubting voice in her head to unnerve her. “Thank you, Lena…”   
  
“We came back to stop an aberration,” Lena said, looking away from Alex, not wanting to meet her gaze. “It looks like we’ve done that. I’m going to go back to the ship,” she said, looking at Ava.    
  
“Are you sure, Lena?” Ava asked.   
  
“I’ve done all I can.” Lena held up what remained of the device. “Supergirl needs to rest and so do I.” She strode to the door, trying to get her breathing under control. “I’ll have the fabricator make Supergirl a new suit, it will be ready by the morning.”   
  
Not giving Ava or Alex a chance to say anything more she strode to the door, her heels clicking a staccato rhythm on the floor.   
  
"You could stay," Alex shouted at Lena's retreating figure. "Kara, she never stopped looking for you. She-"

The door shut behind Lena and Alex looked as if she was debating whether or not to chase after her or not. She turned back to look at Kara and her shoulders sagged sinking back into her chair.

Ava stepped forward, clearing her throat as if she had needed to announce her presence. "I actually came with Lena to discuss what we could do to help with the city but I'm guessing you have some other things you'd like to talk about first."

"Yeah," Alex said, still watching Kara carefully. "I do." 

* * *

Lena had been able to get her breathing under control by the time she had made it back to the Wave Rider. Seeing it parked in what was essentially the DEO’s front yard was a strange sight. The moat separating her life in National City and aboard the Waverider had blurred. It was supremely strange to look up and see daylight when just minutes ago the sky had been filled with meteors.    
  
Instead of returning to the ship, she found her feet carrying her elsewhere. She wanted to return to the Waverider, to the place that whether she admitted it or not had become home for her but there was something she needed to see first.   
  
The damage to the city was far worse than Lena had imagined. Her memories of the city had not faded as much as she would have liked in the five years she was gone and they clashed with the reality before her. Whatever help the Legends could offer would be akin to putting a bandaid over a very deep wound. Even if they had wanted to stay and help, the nature of their work did not allow them to linger too long. There would be more aberrations and anachronisms that would need their attention.    
  
The city could and likely would rebuild but it would be slow and even if Lena had been an optimistic person she wouldn’t have believed the city to return to what it was. Bells could not be unrung and wounds left scars… Rebuilding would take money and time, not something that Supergirl could easily offer. 

Lena walked three more blocks, nearly twisting her ankle when she tried walking around a still smoking crater in the street, her attention on what remained of the building in front of her. “I’m home,” she muttered, looking up at what remained of her penthouse. Ray had succeeded in shrinking the meteor enough that Supergirl hadn’t died from exposure to it but the sheer size of it had still been enough to destroy a large portion of the building.   
  
“You’re not thinking of going inside, are you?”   
  
“You followed me,” Lena said, looking irritated, not bothering to turn around. “I didn’t even know you were there… If only you were that quiet on the Waverider.”   
  
“You could always tie a bell around me, not that it would help much,” Sara said without even the slightest hint of modesty. “Training with one of those on is one of the first things I did in Nanda Parbat.”   
  
“Supergirl is in stable condition. Ava stayed behind.”   
  
“I figured as much. You’re not the kind to leave a job half-done and Ava always wants things done properly.”    
  
“Supergirl nearly died to protect this.” Lena shook her head. “We didn’t always see eye to eye with each other but I can’t begin to wrap my head around why she would do something so foolish...”    
  
“You can’t call yourself a genius and pretend you don’t know why.” Sarah stood shoulder to shoulder with Lena looking up at what remained of the building. 

They were both quiet for a time, letting the silence stretch out between them. To Lena it was far from an uncomfortable one, in fact, she was glad for it. Sara’s answer to her question had given her enough to chew on without having to confront those truths just yet.    
  
It was Lena that spoke first. “Before we leave, I promised I would make Supergirl another anti-kryptonite suit. My original design has some very obvious flaws. If I work through the night I’ll have it done by tomorrow and then we can leave.”    
  
“Just like that?”    
  
“I told you I didn’t plan to stay.”

“I know you did, but we’re leaving behind a bigger mess than usual.” As if to emphasize Sara’s point, a large piece of concrete tumbled down the side of the building and smashed into a parked car that had until that point, had miraculously remained unscathed. “If the timeline can stay unbroken for a little while, I don’t see the harm in staying a little longer to help out.”    
  
“No, I suppose not.”   
  
It was Sara’s turn to be silent for a time. “Before I drag you back to celebrate, a little advice from your Captain. Before we leave, go talk to her.”   
  
“I-”   
  
Sara shook her head. “No lecture,” she said. “I know how little those work on anybody on the Waverider, myself included. “Just something to think about. Someone willing to risk their life to hold onto a memory might be worth hearing out.”   


* * *

Kara’s hand groped instinctively for the curtains without bothering to open her eyes. The strange hours that being Supergirl made her keep meant that she hardly ever had a good night’s sleep. Her body felt strangely heavy and when she went to make another grab for the curtain she felt a hand grab hers, making her jump.    
  
“Kara, it’s okay, it’s me.” Alex reached out and put her other hand on her shoulder.    
  
“Alex?”   
  
“You’re awake a lot sooner than I thought you would be.”    
  
Blinking, she was surprised to see herself surrounded by yellow sun lamps. “Where am I?”   
  
“The DEO. Recovering. Do you not remember what happened?”   
  
Kara blinked, shook her head, and then paused. “The meteor shower!” She once again made a move to try and wrench herself out of bed only to be forced back down quite easily by Alex.    
  
“It’s over. More than a few injuries and a whole lot of property damage but no deaths.”    
  
The relief on Alex’s face seemed to drain away and her hand went to her temple. “We need to talk.”   
  
Kara went slightly pink, tried to get into a sitting position, and found herself too weak to even do that. She remembered now, or the fog in her brain had begun to clear, either way, she knew exactly why Alex was so upset. “I know what you’re going to say.”   
  
“Maybe you do, Kara, but I’m still going to say it. You could have killed yourself. You  _ would  _ have killed yourself and for what?” Alex closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before continuing. “I thought I was going to have to watch my sister die in front of me and there would have been nothing I could do about it.”    
  
“I’m sorry,” Kara said, in a tiny voice that had nothing to do with how weak she felt. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I just… Everything is gone now.” Tears swam in her eyes and she drew her legs up to her chest. How could she explain herself when it all sounded so foolish even in her own head?    
  
“It’s not…”   
  
Kara shook her head. “You don’t understand…”   
  
“No,” Alex said softly. “You don’t.” She hesitated. This wasn’t even a conversation that she was sure they should be having, much less when Kara was still so weak. If she found out that Lena had returned, she would insist on going to see her.  _ Tomorrow,  _ she told herself. It could wait until tomorrow.    
  
“What don’t I understand, Alex?”   
  
“Nothing. You need your rest. We can talk tomorrow.” She looked at her watch, it’s late.”   
  
“I don’t think I’ll be able to get much sleep.”   
  
“Try anyway.” She squeezed Kara’s hand tightly. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”   
  
“I’m sorry, Alex. For everything.”   
  
“I’ll yell at you once you’re back on your feet,” Alex promised her.    
  
“How generous of you.” She squeezed Alex’s hand back, strength ever so slowly beginning to creep back into her body.    
  
“I’ll be right in there,” Alex said and pointed towards the observation room. “You need me and I’ll be right there.”   
  
Kara nodded, sinking back down onto the bed. Even though she had complained about the glow from the yellow sun lamps her eyelids were already beginning to droop. “I dreamed that Lena was here.” She smiled sadly, her eyes closed tightly. “It was a nice dream. She held my hand…” 

* * *

  
Lena had allowed herself to be dragged to the galley to celebrate with the rest of the Legends once Ava had returned. Even with the head start that she had on all of them she had still been able to keep up for far longer than Gideon thought she could or should before returning to the lab she shared with Ray. She didn’t know how many scientific breakthroughs were made while drunk but she had to assume it was close to zero. She only planned on having the fabricator make another copy of the suit for her to tinker with come morning but she had fallen asleep at the table before she had even been able to do that.

  
Meaning to check in on Lena before she and Ava retired to bed, she wandered down to the lab, not all too surprised to find her snoring away. “Should I wake her?” Sara whispered to Ava.    
  
“I wouldn’t,” Gideon chimed in. “She’s only just started dreaming.”   
  
“You’re still monitoring our dreams, Gideon?”   
  
“She can do that?” asked Ava, color creeping into her cheeks.   
  
“I hope it’s a good dream at least.”   
  
“It’s certainly the one she has most often," Gideon said. "Both you and Miss Luthor have recurring dreams quite often, although hers don't involve Miss Sharpe in quite so many colorful outfits."  
  
"Oh God," Sara said, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "Well, Ava already knew that I just didn't know you did. What is it that Lena is dreaming about?"  
  
"Supergirl."   



	6. I looked for you everywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Kara recovers, Alex wrestles with telling her the truth while Lena does the only thing she knows how to do by burying herself in her work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's song is "My Flame" by Bobby Caldwell

Normally, Lena was content to let her dreams slip through her fingers like sand. The nights that she does dream they are almost never pleasant. Even the ones that start out that way never stay that way for long. Dreams about her mother, about Lex, about Supergirl… They all end the same way with her heart aching, wishing she had never dreamed at all. But this morning was an exception. The only thing she can focus on is the dream she had last night or the hangover that threatened to split her head in two.    
  
Choosing the dream she rested her forehead against the worktable, finding a cool portion of it that she hadn’t lain on all night and groaned. It wasn’t the first time she had dreamed about Supergirl but it was by far the most vivid and she knew exactly why. Hearing her voice had been bad enough, but actually seeing her and holding her hand had brought memories to the surface that she had locked away so long ago. Five years had passed and she looked exactly the same. She had changed her hair a bit, Lena had noticed that almost right away. Time had passed, even if it didn’t feel that way to Lena.   
  
She ran her fingers along her face, searching out for any imperfections, wondering just how much  _ she  _ had changed in five years. She must look older, surely. But why did that matter to her now? Sitting up slowly, she blinked and tried to get her bearings. She had come down to the lab to get a jump start on Supergirl’s new suit and had obviously passed out before she could. Rubbing at her neck she stood up, resisting the urge to sit back down as the world listed first left and then right. The modifications to the suit wouldn’t take long and if she truly wanted to leave as soon as possible it would be best to do it now but first, she needed coffee. Desperately.    
  
“Lena, you’re up!” Ray said. There was a cup of coffee as well as a bowl of half-eaten cereal in front of him.    
  
“Indoor voices for a little bit longer,” Nate pleaded. He was sitting next to Ray with his forehead resting on the table. He reached for the coffee mug in front of him and gave up halfway there.    
  
“Coffee?” Ray asked, speaking much more quietly.   
  
“Yes, coffee,” Lena said.   
  
“No sugar and no butter,” Ray said, setting down a steaming mug in front of her.   
  
“Yes, Ray,” Zari said, who was sitting with her chin resting on her hand. “Like how normal people drink their coffee.”    
  
“It’s brain food,” Ray said, elbowing Nate in the side clearly hoping for him to take his side.    
  
“It’s disgusting,” Lena said, taking a small sip and rubbing at her temple. “Why aren’t you hungover?”   
  
“Oh, I never drink too much. And I hate to toot my own horn but looking around at all of you, I might suggest you do the same.”   
  
“I’m coming around to it,” Nate said. “Has anyone seen Mick? With the head start he got on us I’m starting to worry he might be dead.”    
  
“Mick’s fine,” Sara said, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. “I knocked on his door on the way down here and he told me to go to hell.” She shrugged, taking the coffee pot and pouring herself a mug. “Just a refresher for anyone too hungover to remember, we’re going to help the DEO with some of the cleanup around the city. Supergirl’s stabilized but that doesn’t change the fact the city is covered in kryptonite.” 

"Or that a good portion of it is destroyed?" Zari said. 

"That too, but we're not really equipped to rebuild a city."

"I am. Or I can pay to have it rebuilt." Lena took another sip of coffee. "None of my assets were frozen while I was gone. I just need to make a few phone calls."

"Is it really that easy?" Nate asked. 

"Most everything is when you have money." Lena noticed how everyone was gawking at her and she waved a hand out in front of her. "The  _ only  _ good anyone in my family ever did was cutting a check. They only did it when they had the right cameras pointed at them, of course… I'm sure that there will be plenty of people that try to dissect my donation for a whiff of ulterior motive." She laughed, looking almost amused at the prospect. 

"Don't you think they'll be more interested in your reappearance after all this time?" Ray said. 

"No," Lena said flatly. She drained the last bit of coffee in her cup and stood up. "I'll be in the lab. I need to make some adjustments to Supergirl's suit." 

"And avoid picking up rocks in the hot sun all day, Zari snarked. 

"If anyone else has a few million dollars to give away, they can stay on the ship too." Sara let the silence hang there for a bit, looking over her mug at them. "I didn't think so." 

* * *

Kara slept far longer than she would have guessed. She was less surprised to see Alex sitting beside her bed wearing a pair of heavy goggles and thumbing through a book. "They look good on you," Kara croaked.

"You're awake." Alex smiled and fumbled with her goggles, blinking a bit while she got used to the light. "How are you feeling?" 

"Better."

"Kara.."

"What? I do feel better…" She winced and forced herself to sit up.

Alex grimaced and helped Kara up into a more comfortable position. Seeing how weak she still was she was even less certain about coming clean to her about Lena reappearing with the other Legends. "Are you hungry?" 

Kara shook her head. "Maybe a little later." She hesitated, her eyes darting away from Alex, settling on the window looking into the room she was in. "How bad is the damage?"

Alex sighed. "Pretty bad."

"I figured as much. And…"

"Lena's penthouse? I'm sorry, Kara. There's not much left."

"Oh." Kara blinked. She drew her knees up to her chest and sighed, wiping at her eye with the back of her hand.

"Kara…"

"I know it was stupid, Alex. I just… I convinced myself that if her penthouse was still here in the city Lena  _ might  _ come back if she had a place to come back to. But why would she? I hurt her so much…" 

Alex sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Kara, I need to tell you something. I wanted to wait until you were feeling a little better… But I don't know if waiting is wise either."

"What is it?"

Alex ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know the whole story. Ava gave me the truncated version and tried to answer all my questions but I still have so many… Gideon wasn't the one who made your suit, Kara. Brainy was the first to notice something  _ odd.  _ I did too but I didn't think much of it. And then when you tried to plant yourself in front of that giant meteor…" 

"And I'm sorry about-"

Alex shook her head. "You turned off your comms." She held out her hand to stop Kara from interrupting again to apologize. "I didn't know what to do and then I heard Lena's voice."

"What?" 

"Ava was cagey about the details but Lena's been with the Legends for a while now. The last five years. She made your suit, caught you with their ship, and helped to purify you of some of the kryptonite radiation." 

"Did they leave while I was asleep?"

"No, but Kara-"

There was a rush of wind and Alex found herself staring at an empty bed. "Perfect," she said, standing up and running to the door. 

* * *

Kara's speed gave out once she had taken a few steps outside the DEO. She hadn't bothered to ask where the Legends were docked before she had left. She would have gone back to ask Alex if she thought that she would tell her instead of trying to force her back into bed. 

"You do heal fast."

Sara and the rest of the Legends were standing not ten feet away. They had been talking animatedly until laying eyes on Kara. 

Kara took two steps toward them and stumbled. Mick caught her hard around the middle and righted her. "Not that fast. You alright?" 

"Fine, I'm fine. Where's ( _ Lena)  _ your ship?" 

"I'll take her off your hands, you guys go inside and see where you can help." Taking Kara by the shoulder she led her to a bench just as Alex burst through the door to the DEO. 

"They're your responsibility for the day, Alex."

"You make us sound like children," Zari scoffed.    
  
“Well, Ray did pack us snacks,” Nate said.

Alex looked as if she wanted to argue but saw the small nod that Sara gave her and led the rest of the team inside. 

"So," Sara said. "You know."

"Yes," Kara said, still craning her neck around looking for the Waverider. 

"We're cloaked right over there," she said and pointed to a spot near a totaled car. "We forgot one time when we went back to 1947 Roswell. Will not make that mistake again. A story for another time though."

"How is she?" 

Sara didn't answer right away. She held out her right hand and waggled it. "Not in the best of moods lately but she's doing as well as can be expected on a tiny ship." 

"Because of me."

"Obviously," Sara said. Her expression softened and she patted Kara's knee. "I don't know the details of what happened between the two of you… Lena is not all that forthcoming with details about herself. Ava has her file from the Time Bureau but we only skimmed over that. I know that you two were close and that you both are hurting."

"It's my fault, I-"

Sara held up her hand. "I don't need to know. That's between the both of you. If Lena wants us to know she’ll tell us. I’m not going to stop you from going to see her but I need to warn you for both your sakes that I would think it over before you do.”   
  
“You don’t think she’ll want to see me.”   
  
“I don’t know. I’m sure a part of her does but she also asked us not to tell anyone she was here and she’s been adamant that she has no plans on staying. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”   
  
Kara shook her head. “I just need to see her.”   
  
Sara nodded. The Waverider swam into view not forty feet from them and she stood up. “Don’t go breaking her heart again.” Sara offered her up a very small smile and nodded her head in the direction of the Waverider before departing, taking the steps up to the DEO two at a time.    


* * *

  
It wasn’t the first time that Lena had worked through a hangover. She found forcing her brain synapses to fire did wonders for shaking off the lethargy that came with too much alcohol. Incorporating more than one fail-safe into the suit was her first priority. Her second was allowing the suit to deploy automatically if it detected high levels of kryptonite. The trouble was making sure that she found the proper threshold.    
  
When she had first found herself aboard the Waverider, she and Ray had split the lab like Solomon. It hadn’t worked in the old reruns of classic TV Lena sometimes caught on TV when she couldn’t sleep and it hadn’t worked in the lab either. Ray was a bit too chipper for Lena’s taste but he was organized and the two had found a way to work around one another after a couple of shaky months. Now she didn’t even need to look up from her work to find what she needed.    
  
“Gideon, can you start up the fabricator?”    
  
“Oh, am I allowed to help, now?”   
  
“What are you talking about, Gideon? You make an excellent sounding board.”    
  
“Sounding boards are usually not requested to stay silent.”   
  
“Most sounding boards aren’t nearly as snarky as you.”    
  
“Touche.”    
  


* * *

  
  
It took Kara a moment after stepping onto the Waverider to realize that she was barefoot. She had run out in the equivalent of a hospital gown without realizing it.  _ A little too late to change,  _ she thought She padded deeper inside and jumped when she was greeted by a voice that was definitely not Lena’s.   
  
“Hello, Kara Danvers.”   
  
“You scared me,” Kara said, her hand over her chest. “You’re Gideon?”   
  
“The one and only. I take it you’re here to see Miss Luthor and not me?”   
  
“Umm… Yes. Where is she?”   
  
“She’s in her lab. Would you like me to tell her that you’ve arrived?”   
  
“No! I mean. Can you just show me where she is?”   
  
“I wouldn’t be a very good Super Computer if I couldn’t.”    
  


It was a strange feeling having the path illuminated for her. It reminded Kara of the Yellow Brick Road in a way that made the corners of her mouth curve upward. Very few things gave her much comfort after Lena had disappeared. _The Wizard of Oz_ was one of the few things that did. Taking a few more careful steps down a narrow hallway she could hear Lena's heartbeat before she saw her.

“Lena…”   
  
The hairs on the back of Lena’s neck stood up and she dropped the pencil she had been twirling between her fingers. It bounced off the desk and clattered across the floor rolling under a work table that was covered in messy stacks of research.    
  
“It’s really you…” Kara teetered on the balls of her feet. She wanted to take a step forward but was too afraid to do so.    
  
“What are you doing here?” Lena bent back over the desk, staring more intently at the equations she had been scribbling just moments ago. They began to swim in front of her and she took a deep breath in a bid to get a handle on her emotions.    
  
“I came to see you.” Kara’s voice trembled and she shuffled forward a few steps. “I can’t believe you’re here…”   
  
“You shouldn’t have come,” Lena said. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, brushing at the corner of her eye with her palm as she did. “I didn’t want to see you, Supergirl.”   
  
“I know, Lena. I don’t blame you, I just, I needed to see you.” Kara sniffled. “It’s really you?”    
  
“What a stupid-” Lena’s voice caught in her throat when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, the stern frown she had forced onto her face slipped and she could only stare back at her.    
  
“I looked for you everywhere.” Tears began to fall that Kara didn’t bother to brush away. “I-” She appeared to lose her balance for a moment before she stumbled backward, her hip bumping the table hard, sending a few beakers crashing to the ground.   
  
“Kara?!” Lena stood up just in time to reach out to catch her, yanking her backward and falling back into her chair with her.    
  
“She needs to get back to her room,” Lena said, trying to hoist her onto her shoulder. “The kryptonite poisoning-”   
  
“Kara Danvers’s vitals show very little remaining kryptonite radiation. She appears to have fainted from emotional stress.”    
  
“The medbay then.”    


* * *

  
  
Easing Kara into one of the chairs in the medbay was easier said than done and by the time she was finished a thin film of sweat had begun to bead on her skin.  _ I did this,  _ she thought, guilt twisting around in her insides like a snake. “Gideon, will she be OK?”   
  
“Looking at both of your vitals I’m far more worried about you, Miss Luthor, might I suggest more regular trips to the gym? Miss Danvers appears to simply need bed rest.”    
  
“I’ll take it under advisement,” she said through gritted teeth. Pulling a stool up close, she brushed some hair that had fallen in Kara’s face away and sighed. “Why are you so stupid?” she muttered, talking to both Kara and herself. She closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts when she felt Kara’s hand brush against hers. She meant to pull away but before she could Kara’s hand closed around hers.    
  
She was still weak and Lena knew that she could slip her hand out easily enough. Instead, she pulled her stool closer to Kara, turning her hand over and clasping her hand tight. “I wish you would have found me…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. Already hard at work on the next chapter!


	7. We can't go back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena begins to understand just how long five years really is while she and Kara try and find a way to clear the air and maybe move forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You don't have to go, you should know  
> I'll be there for you  
> When you're alone, I'll be there  
> To comfort you  
> Oh baby, please come where its warm"
> 
> -Leon Bridges 'Here In My Arms'

_ Maybe I really am a fool…  _ _  
_ _  
_ Lena had never considered anything outside the realm of possibility. She had been told time and time again that nothing was impossible for a Luthor. Maybe that’s why Lex had lost himself so completely in his vendetta against Superman. It was why even when she found herself aboard the Wavrider she had never believed it truly impossible that Supergirl and she would cross paths again. On the off chance that they did meet again, she had already decided just what barbs to hurl at her before retreating, but sitting beside her now she could not recall a single one. How could she when Supergirl was lying here because of her?   
  
Why had she spent five years searching for her when Lena had spent the same five running? Was it just guilt? And even if she mustered the courage to ask, would she really want to know the answer? Lena sighed, shifting in her stool, trying to get more comfortable. That was enough to get Kara to stir. She opened her eyes blearily and looked at Lena, seemingly relieved that she was there.   
  
“I fainted,” she said sheepishly.   
  
“You did. You shouldn’t be exerting yourself until you’ve had more rest.”   
  
“You sound like Alex.” Kara looked around to get a better idea of her surroundings, surprised to see she appeared to still be on the Waverider. “You didn’t call her, did you?”   
  
“No, but I should. She can come and-”   
  
“Please don’t.” Kara’s cheeks flushed pink and she looked away from Lena. “She’ll probably lock me back in that recovery room for a week if she knows I fainted.”   
  
“Maybe.”   
  
“Lena, I-”   
  
“We don’t need to talk, Supergirl. I would actually prefer it if we didn’t. You already fainted once.” She tried to pull her hand free of Kara’s and found that she was obviously on the mend judging from how tightly she was holding onto her hand.    
  
“I’m not going to faint again,” Kara said, her gaze falling from Lena’s face. “I was just… I knew you were out there somewhere but actually seeing you… I got a little overwhelmed. I still can’t believe you’re really here. It’s why I don’t want to let go of your hand.” The ghost of a smile crossed her face for a fraction of a second. “We don’t need to talk long, I promise, but there are things I need to tell you and things I want to ask you. After that,” she said, looking down at the floor. “I won’t bother you ever again if that’s what you want, Lena.”   
  
“If we do talk,” Lena said carefully, “I don’t want you to apologize to me again. You already did that at the Pulitzer party.”    
  
Kara’s eyes widened but she did nod her head in agreement. 

“Why didn’t you ever stop looking for me?” she asked. "I’ve been gone for five years.”  _ Six in a few months' time,  _ she thought, still very much aware of just how much time had passed since she had seen Kara even though Kara looked exactly as she remembered her.   
  
“I couldn’t,” Kara said simply, looking confused at Lena’s question. “I knew you were out there somewhere, how could I ever stop looking for you, Lena?”   
  
“Supergirl, ever the optimist,” Lena muttered.  


“Are you not happy to see me?”   
  
The question caught Lena off guard and she could only look back at Kara for a time. The word ‘no’ trembled on her lips. If she answered that way, it would put a definitive end to their short reunion, allowing her the clean break she had been looking for when she left National City. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Should I be?”    
  
“I know how much I hurt you, Lena. If I could take all that hurt from you, I would… In a heartbeat.”  _ But I’m hurting too. _   


"I tried to do that once..." Lena smiled sadly. Kara’s words reminded her of her own quest to escape the hurt that had followed her through time. “The Time Bureau has a device that erases memories. A  _ memory flasher.”  _ Her nose wrinkled slightly, making her distaste for its name obvious. “They use it to keep the timeline intact. Make sure that people don’t remember any events that might alter history. It’s strictly for short-term memory only. At least the design that they use is. I tinkered with a spare one aboard the Waverider. After a few months of work, I made alterations that would target the hippocampus to allow the erasure of long-term memories. Not for any nefarious reasons,” she said and smiled bitterly. “I wanted to erase the memory of my time in National City. Of you…   
  


“And when I was sure that it would work, I pointed it at myself.” The memory was so vivid in her mind’s eye that a small shudder ran through her body. She remembered the feel of it in her hand and how similar it felt to pointing the gun at Lex. “It was all I had worked on for months. I knew that if I used it, that it would take all the hurt festering in me like an illness, that I could go to sleep without waking up in tears. Forget all the pain that came with knowing that the entire life I built here was all a lie and start over far away from you and National City. But in the end, I couldn’t. No matter how much I wanted to.”    
  
“Why not?” Kara asked, her head hung low and tears beginning to roll silently down her cheeks.   
  
“Because as much as your betrayal hurt me, I didn’t want to forget you.” She realized a second too late what she had just confessed and turned away from Kara, ashamed that she had once again let Supergirl slip past the defenses she so meticulously put up around her so easily that they might as well not have been there at all. “If you want to talk, now’s the time, Supergirl.”   
  
Kara wanted so much to hug her, but the fear that Lena might jerk away from her kept her from trying. “Sara said you don't have any plans to stay in National City. Not that I blame you,” she added quickly. “I’ve spent the last five years thinking about all the times I could have told you, how different things might have turned out for us… I hope you’re happy here on the Waverider. I hope that the Legends treat you the way that you deserve. I hope that they know how wonderful and selfless you are. How kindhearted you are…” She swallowed a lump in her throat and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand.    
  
“Lying to you about my identity will always be my greatest regret, Lena. But I need you to know that everything between us, it was all real… I know that I tainted it, but it wasn’t a lie. I never stopped missing you, hoping that you would come back someday. And here you are.” She smiled, tears streaming down her face. “I know that your home is here now. I won’t ask you to come back or to stay, but I’ll be here. I’ll always be right here waiting for you. Anytime you get tired of saving the world or if you ever want to see me, I’ll be right here.”    
  
“Don’t…”   
  
“Don’t what?”   
  
“Don’t keep waiting for me, don’t keep expecting the best from me when I’m the one who ran away! Live your life, Supergirl.”   
  
“I’ve tried,” Kara said sadly. She let go of Lena’s hand and sat up, sliding off the chair and stumbling a bit when she stood up. She sniffed, dabbing at her eyes and forced herself to smile. “I won’t bother you anymore, Lena.” She shuffled towards the door, blinking back tears. When she got to the door, her stomach let out a loud rumble that made her blush.   
  
Lena had half-risen off of her stool while her heart and brain had a silent debate about what to do. Taking an uncertain step toward her she pointed past Kara. “If you’re hungry, the galley has a fabricator that can make you something.” Not waiting for her to answer, either way, Lena strode past her, grabbing Kara’s hand, trying to ignore the way her heart began to beat faster in her chest when she did, forgetting that Kara could hear such a change easily and not seeing the small smile that Kara let linger on her face while she followed along in Lena’s wake, happy to be pulled along.    


* * *

Kara hadn’t realized how hungry she had really been until Lena had finished explaining how the fabricator worked. While she pondered her breakfast order, Lena had excused herself to check on the progress of the anti-kryptonite suit she was working on. Instead of sitting down at the table, Kara took the opportunity to look around, craning her neck to get a better look at the dining room. “I wonder where Lena usually sits,” she said, thinking out loud.   
  
“Miss Luthor usually sits in the chair closest to the door. She thinks it offers the best possible chance of slipping out unnoticed,” Gideon answered.   
  
Again, Kara’s hand flew to her chest and she closed her eyes, clearly surprised. “Gideon. I was just thinking out loud,” she said, taking a deep breath and sitting down.    
  
“My apologies, Miss Danvers.”    
  
“You can just call me, Kara, Gideon.”   
  
“Kara it is then. Do you have any other questions for me?”   
  
“Ummm…” Kara found herself not sure of where to look when talking with Gideon. She looked up towards the ceiling and then back down at the table. “Does Lena ever talk about me, or anyone else from National City?” she quickly amended, her cheeks turning ever so slightly pink.    
  
“No,” Gideon said. “Miss Luthor does not speak about her life before boarding the Waverider. At least not often, and I’m afraid my protocols forbid me from elaborating any further.”   
  
“Protocols? You mean she asked you to keep it a secret?”   
  
“I mean my protocols. I am not allowed to divulge any information that members of the crew ask me to withhold from others unless it would put them or the crew in mortal peril.”   
  
“That sounds like a secret to me,” Kara said.   
  
“But it’s not,” countered Gideon. Miss Luthor may not talk about you but she does dream about you often.”   
  
“How would you know that?" Kara asked, blushing.   
  
“I am equipped with several neuro-monitors and am able to monitor the dreams of anyone aboard the Waverider.”    
  
“That seems a bit private, Gideon…”   
  
“Very.”   


* * *

  
Lena hadn’t really needed to check on the suit. The fabrication process was entirely automated and any changes she might want to make would need to be done after. Until it was done however there was nothing more to do than watch the progress bar inch forward, which she did for a few minutes while she tried to clear her head. Not that it helped much. Even as she made her way back to the galley, she was still just as confused about what it was she wanted.    
  
“Did you break the fabricator?”    
  
“What? No. I… Oh.” Kara looked at Lena over a veritable wall of baked goods. “I was just really hungry.” She held up a doughnut and bit into it. "I had the fabricator make some scones too.”   
  
“I noticed.” Lena took one from one of the impossibly tall piles and bit into it. She had grown used to the food aboard the Waverider but did agree with the others that it was missing something. There was very little getting around the fact that their food came from a piece of future tech rather than an actual kitchen. Chewing thoughtfully, she was secretly glad that there was a wall of food separating them, it made it easier for her to think without having Kara staring at her and her staring back, not that it lasted long. By the time Lena had finished her scone, the wall of food had been reduced to a parapet.    
  
Lena reached for another scone, not at all hungry but tore off a chunk anyway, popping it into her mouth and chewing slowly. “Here,” she said, reaching into her pocket and taking out a few folded sheets of paper. “You’ll need to sign these. I was going to leave them at the DEO before we left but since you’re here.”   
  
Kara set her half-eaten bit of doughnut down and dusted her hands off before taking the documents from her. “What is it?”   
  
“I was never declared legally dead, I would have needed to be away for at least another five years for that to happen. My assets and bank accounts were merely temporarily frozen. I made the appropriate calls this morning unfreezing them. The meteor shower did a lot more damage than I would have believed. Even with a modest estimate of the damages, it would be well north of a few hundred million dollars.” If the damage was as bad as she thought it was it would be somewhere in the billions.    
  
“I’d be more than happy to cut a blank check but my assets would still need to be liquidated, not to mention various investments and holdings. I would be here forever if I tried to hack my way through all that red tape.”    
  
_ That wouldn’t be such a bad thing,  _ Kara thought.    
  
“I’ve set up a trust to transfer all my assets to you. You just need to sign…” She unfolded the pages and pointed to five different spots across the three pages.    
  
“Lena, I don’t want your money,” Kara said, sounding almost scandalized.   
  
“It’s for National City, Supergirl.” She shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching. “Although you can do whatever you want with it. If you do spend it on anything charitable please send a receipt to my mother. She’ll hate that.” She did smile at this, tearing off another piece of scone.    
  
“You can’t give me everything, Lena. What if you ever come back. I-”   
  
“I won’t,” Lena said, taking a breath and looking down at the table, losing whatever tiny shred remained of her appetite. “Either you take it now and do some much needed good with it or you take it in ten years when I am declared legally dead and all of it passes to you anyway.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Kara looked at her quizzically.    
  
Lena went red at this. “Before we had our falling out ,” Lena said, not wanting to dwell on that unpleasantness. “I had my will amended to make you my sole beneficiary. I had forgotten all about it by the time I wound up here, not that it matters anymore. I don’t have any use for money on the ship.”   
  
“Why would you do that?”    
  
“Do what?”    
  
“Why leave me everything?”   
  
“Who else would I leave it to, Supergirl?” She smiled sadly and pulled a pen from her pocket. “Just sign it. Please.”   
  
Kara took the pen from her but hesitated. “I’ll sign if you do something for me.”   
  
“This isn’t a negotiation, Supergirl.”   
  
“I’m making it one.”   
  
Lena sighed. “You’re the only person I know that would go out of their way to avoid a sizable inheritance.” Sizeable was a bit modest. Lena might have not invested as aggressively as some of her financial advisors had tried to get her to but she had enough to foot the bill to cover the cost of the reconstruction for the city with a substantial amount left over. “What do you want?”   
  
Kara’s mouth curved upward into a grin that reminded Lena of simpler times. “I want to ask you some questions and I want to ask you for one favor.” She held up her index finger to emphasize just how small of a request it really was.    
  
“And you want me to answer them honestly?”   
  
“That too,” Kara said.    
  
_ You’re a God awful negotiator.  _ “Fine. After that, you sign. And I don’t need to do you the favor if I don't want to."    
  
“Deal.”    
  
Lena sat back in her chair. "I would have answered your questions without the negotiation, you know?" 

"I know," Kara said, still looking pleased with herself. "I really just wanted the favor." 

_ Maybe not such a bad negotiator, after all.  _

Kara pulled her chair closer to the table and reached across the table expectantly. 

"You never said-"

Kara snatched up Lena's hands in hers and waited for her to pull away. When she didn't she flashed her a hesitant smile. 

"Just ask your questions."

"Were you happy to see me?" Kara asked again.    


Lena sighed. She could give the longer answer, the kind she might give in a meeting when she didn't want to admit fault but had to anyway. Knowing Kara, she would be too kind to call her out but she had agreed to be honest. "Yes, Supergirl, I was happy to see you again." She looked at Kara almost challengingly before deflating. 

Kara didn't gloat but some color returned to her cheeks and she looked a bit more like the Kara that Lena remembered, the one that she often met in her dreams. "What's it like living on the Waverider?" 

Lena blinked. "Cramped." She drummed her fingers on the table and looked around the galley. "Cramped and noisy…" She gestured to her half-eaten scone. The food isn't very good and we only have one bathroom."

"That's criminal."

Lena giggled without even realizing it. "But I get to do a lot of good. Save the world from behind the scenes." Her smile faded and she looked down at her lap. "No one to accuse me of having any ulterior motives when they have no idea there's a Luthor trying to play the hero."

"You  _ are  _ a hero, Lena. You always were to me."

Lena shook her head weakly and made a rotating gesture with her finger to try and get Kara to continue, willing her heart to stop beating so hard in her chest. 

"What do you miss most about living in the city?" 

"I already mentioned the food. No Big Belly Burger in the timestream and fabricator food gets dull after a while. No matter what time we jump to I still haven't found a place with halfway decent brunch."  


Kara's face fell and Lena looked away pointedly. Either she had been expecting a different answer or she knew that Lena was being less than truthful. Sara had advised she talk to Kara and if this was going to be the last time they would ever see one another? Why lie?  She caught Kara's eye before letting her eyes dart away again. "I miss you most," she said so softly that if not for Kara's Kryptonian hearing she would have missed it.

Kara didn't cry, although her grip on Lena's hands tightened slightly. "I would ask you to stay here in the city, Lena. But that's a lot to ask for a favor and I wouldn't want to take you away from the life you've built." 

_ If you did, what would I say?  _ Lena wondered. 

"The city has seen better days and I don't even know if there will be anything open, but will you spend an evening with me? No DEO, no Waverider, just dinner together? Like before?"

"I don't know if we can go back to how things were before…"

"I understand," Kara said. She blinked, letting go of Lena's hands and stood up. "I already said you didn't need to say yes if you didn't want to. I'll just-"

"Kara.."

Kara froze.  _ That's the first time you've called me Kara… _

"I know that I hurt you too, Kara. How cruel it is to leave suddenly," she said, thinking of her mother and how sudden their parting had been. "I don't  want  things to go back to how they were before. But if you still want to have dinner together…"

"Tomorrow?"   


"Tomorrow."


	8. Stay with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While both Kara and Lena get ready for their dinner together they both get some unwanted but necessary advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I call you, to see you again  
> So I can win, and this can finally end  
> Spend an hour on my makeup  
> To prove something
> 
> Walk up in my high heels  
> All high and mighty  
> And you say 'Hello'  
> And I lose"
> 
> \- Mitski 'Lonesome Love'

Alex was pleasantly surprised when she found Kara back in the recovery room at the DEO after she had finished coordinating the teams spread out throughout the city to clean up the massive amounts of Kryptonite throughout the city. The Legends were a bit short on manpower but it was enough that she could trust them and after helping save Kara’s life, how could she not? Knowing that Lena counted herself among them was something she hadn’t had the time to process, too much had happened in too short a time which was exactly why she was so worried about Kara’s plan to meet her for dinner that night.  
  
“Kara? Can you slow down for a second?” It was the second time she had asked her and Alex still wasn’t sure if Kara was intentionally ignoring her or she had really not heard her.   
  
“I told you that I feel fine. Really.” Kara had begrudgingly slept another night in the recovery room surrounded by yellow sun lamps. Not because she had felt weak but because she knew that Alex would put her foot down if she thought that Kara was still showing signs of kryptonite poisoning.   
  
“I’m sure you do,” Alex said, reaching out to catch Kara’s wrist, finding herself being dragged along behind her for a moment until Kara did finally come to a halt, still hovering a few inches off the ground. “I _do_ want you to rest more, but that’s not what I’m worried about.”   
  
“And I’ll only go to places that the DEO has already deemed safe.”   
  
“I’m worried about you and Lena.”   
  
“What? Why?”   
  
Alex sighed and pointed to Kara’s couch, knowing already she didn’t have any hope of getting her there under her own power. “I’m happy to see Lena again, I really am, Kara. I’ve been worried too and knowing she’s been with the Legends, I’ll sleep a lot better at night knowing that she’s with people like that.”   
  
“And?” Kara asked, floating down onto the couch and sitting on it cross-legged.   
  
“And from the sounds of it she’s going back with them to wherever it is that they go…” Ava had explained to her, although from the terminology she had used and the slightly canned responses she gave to Alex’s questions, it was quite clear that she was explaining as if Alex already had a working understanding of time travel.   
  
“I know that,” Kara said.   
  
“I’m worried about you getting hurt again, Kara.” She closed her eyes, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking again. “Lena just appears back in National City-”   
  
“And saved my life,” Kara said hotly.   
  
“And saved your life. And then she’ll go back, and where will that leave you?”   
  
“I don’t know, Alex…”   
  
“Really? Because I do.” She sat down beside Kara. “Throwing yourself back into your work as Supergirl… Ducking my calls… Pulling away from me and everyone else…”   
  
Kara’s cheeks turned pink and her gaze dropped to the floor. “I know things haven’t been the same since Lena left, but I’m really fine, Alex…”   
  


“So, you two have dinner and talk, and then what?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Kara said. “I’m just happy she’s back, Alex.”   
  
“I know you are, but what do you expect to happen after Kara? Be honest.”   
  
Kara looked away, feeling Alex’s eyes on her. “I'm going to ask her to stay."

"Kara…"

"I know what you’re going to say Alex but when we talked, I don’t know… I really think she will.”   
  
“I really wish she would, Kara, but you said she signed over everything to you, L-Corp, her bank accounts, everything. Does that sound like someone who is even thinking a little bit about staying?”   
  
“No, but even if she doesn’t, Alex, I’ll be fine.” She smiled brightly, all too aware that it was the same thing she had been repeating to herself all day while she screwed up the courage to ask Lena. “It’s just dinner and speaking of, I really need to get ready, so…”   
  
“You know you can call me, anytime,” Alex said, standing up, looking very much like she was not at all ready to go.   
  
“Like after Lena and I have dinner?”   
  
“Or _anytime._ ” Alex hugged her tight before walking to the door, watching Kara for a bit as she held up another top in front of the mirror before leaving, quite sure that Kara hadn’t even noticed she had gone.   
  


* * *

  
  
The knocking at Lena’s door had been so light that she might have thought it was simply the Waverider making noises if not for Sara calling her name from the other side of it.   
  
“Lena? Can I come in?”   
  
So surprised not to have the question followed by a loud chorus of banging from outside the door she poked her head out before opening the door for her.   
  
“Do you need anything?”   
  
Not exactly,” Sara said, glancing around Lena’s room. “I just wanted to talk.”   
  
“About?”   
  
“You and Kara’s date.”   
  
“It’s not a date,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “We’re just having dinner.   
  
“Mm-hmm,” Sara said, side-eyeing the small pile of clothes on Lena’s bed. “You came a long way from avoiding her to dinner.”   
  
“You’re the one who told me to talk to her.”   
  
“I did, and I’m really happy that you did.” Sara gave the pile of clothes on Lena’s bed a nudge and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I just don’t want you to have any regrets afterward.”   
  
“Which is why I agreed to dinner.”   
  
“I mean after we leave.”   
  
Lena’s brow furrowed and she shook her head. “If I didn’t know any better I would say you’re trying to get rid of me…”   
  
“You know that I’m not and if you don’t I am telling you right now, you are a Legend. Nothing will ever change that. But I know that time stops meaning a whole lot considering our line of work but that doesn’t mean it stops passing. I just don’t want you looking back in another five years and realize that you kept such a nice girl waiting all that time.”

If you’re trying to tell me to find a way to live without regrets you are a few decades late.”  
  
“Preaching to the choir,” Sara said and smiled somewhat sadly. “I just want you to be happy. Whether that’s here on the ship with all of us or-”   
  
“What?” Lena arched an eyebrow, trying to hide how her cheeks had begun to take on color. “With Kara? “Kara and I _were_ friends, regardless of what any National City rag might have had to say on the matter. And now we’re just…” She gestured with her hands a bit before letting them fall to her side.   
  
“OK,” Sara said diplomatically. She stood up and smiled. “Last piece of advice and then you can throw me out? Don’t leave anything you have to say unsaid.” Sara dusted off her hands and headed to the door, lingering in the doorway. “Did you want to try tossing me out?”   
  
“Not this time,” Lena said, sitting back down in front of her mirror. “But, thank you, Sara,” she said, immediately clearing her throat. “You can leave now.”   
  
“I was just waiting for permission.” She stepped out, turning back just before the door closed behind her. “I think you’d look good in the purple,” she said and pointed to one of the many discarded dresses on her bed.   
  
Once the door had shut behind Sara, Lena stood back up, pulling the dress that Sara had suggested out of the pile and holding it up.   
  
“I told you I was right,” Sara said through the door as if she could somehow see through it.   
  
“Next time bring the pipe,” Lena shouted back. 

* * *

  
  
Lena would have very much liked to slip off the Waverider without running into anyone but all hopes of that were dashed when she stepped outside her room and found that everyone had been loitering in the hall near her room.   
  
_Kill me._ _  
_ _  
_ “Somebody sure looks nice,” Zari said, turning around as if they had just happened to run into one another. “Doesn’t she, Mick?”   
  
Mick shrugged before seeing how Zari was glaring at him and nodded. “You look hot.”   
  
“Exactly what I was going to say,” Sara teased, grinning at Ava when she gave her a little push. “What? She does.” She wrapped an arm around Ava’s waist pulling her close to her and rested her head against her shoulder. “Do we need to give you a curfew?”   
  
Nate chuckled, stopping once he saw the withering glare that Lena shot at him.   
  
“I think we can let it slide this once.”   
  
“How generous of you,” Lena said completely deadpan. “I’m just going to dinner, I won’t need a curfew.”   
  
“You do appear to be a bit overdressed for ‘just dinner’ Miss Luthor,” Gideon added.   
  
“Why is that?” Zari asked, grinning widely. “What do you think, Ray?”   
  
“You say one word and I’ll make sure that there’s a lot more than butter in your coffee tomorrow morning,” Lena said as she brushed past Ray. Shaking her head and muttering darkly to herself. Once she was ready to disembark she did allow a small smile to cross her face.   
  
“Miss Luthor?” Gideon said as Lena was just about to disembark.   
  
“What is it, Gideon?”   
  
“You _do_ look very nice.”   
  
“Thank you, Gideon.” 

* * *

  
  
The moment that Lena stepped off the ship, she saw Kara rushing up to meet her, tripping on her heels and floating the rest of the way over to her.   
  
“Hi,” Kara said, setting herself back down on the ground and wobbling slightly. She was wearing a pink floral dress that she had tried on three times before finally making up her mind. “You look amazing.”  
  
“Oh,” Lena said, sounding pleased. “You too.” She gestured to her dress and blushed slightly. “We might be overdressed for a burger, though.”  
  
Kara did a small turn and nodded. “Maybe a little, but I just recently came into some money and I was thinking of splurging.”  
  
“Did you?” Lena chuckled. “It’s lucky that you did because I’m pretty sure that I’m broke.”  
  
“I’ll pay,” Kara said, taking Lena’s hand in hers. “What were you in the mood for?”  
  
Walking around a large crater in the street, Lena shrugged. “Maybe we should just see what’s still open before we get too picky.”  
  
That really had been the best course of action. After half an hour of walking, it had become apparent just how slim their options were. Even though many buildings had escaped substantial damage during the meteor shower, that didn't mean they had magically re-opened either. In the end, they had stumbled across an Italian place that had miraculously come out of the meteor shower untouched.  
  
Stepping inside, Kara was so sure that they were actually closed that she very nearly steered the both of them back outside just as a waiter approached them looking slightly disheveled, obviously not expecting to have any customers at all.   
  
“I hope the lack of customers isn’t a reflection of how good the food is,” Lena said, peeking out from behind her menu.   
  
“You think?” Kara hadn’t even seemed to notice that the two were completely alone until Lena had pointed it out. “We could go somewhere else…”  
  
“No,” Lena said, laughing. “It’s a miracle that they were open. Here is just fine.”  
  
“Yeah? Because you have a timeship and I can fly. Just say the word and we can fly to Italy,” Kara teased.  
  
Lena giggled and nodded. “Maybe for dessert.”   
  
It didn’t take long for either of them to decide what they wanted. Lena ordered the ravioli and arancini while Kara ordered a carbonara and truffle risotto and when the waiter asked if they had gotten a chance to look at the wine list, Lena asked for a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that made Kara do a double-take.  
  
When the waiter had left, she reached across the table and grabbed Lena’s arm, leaning over the table. “That was a two-thousand dollar bottle of wine,” she said in a tone that made it clear she thought Lena had ordered it accidentally.   
  
“You did say you were paying,” Lena teased.  
  
“I did.” She sat back in her chair and grinned nervously. “I’m not used to seeing that many zeroes or eating at places that have a wine list or going out for that matter.”  
  
“Don’t tell me that your work has been keeping you that busy? I know it can’t be easy burning the candle at both ends…”  
  
“Oh,” Kara said, shaking her head. “I mean, that does keep me busy, my writing and the _other_ stuff,” she held her arms out in front of her to mime herself flying and shook her head. “I just haven't been out that much.”  
  
“Since?”  
  
“Umm…” She shook her head, “I don’t know, Lena-”  
  
“Since I left…” Lena said, not needing to see the small look of guilt on Kara’s face to confirm her suspicions.   
  
“No,” Kara said weakly.  
  
“You’ve always been a terrible liar.” Lena reached across the table and was relieved to see Kara’s hand turn upward and clasp around hers when she reached for it. “A part of me did want to hurt you when I disappeared. I was _so_ angry and hurt. And predictably I do what I always do. I lash out and try and shut myself off from the world… But if I knew how much I would hurt you, how long you would wait for me… I would have never left.” She reached up to brush away the tears that had begun to fall and was shocked when Kara did it for her.   
  
“But you’re here now, Lena. That’s all that matters. I told you on the ship that I would always be right here whenever you want to find me again…”  
  
“Don’t say things like that,” Lena muttered, dabbing at her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths to try and get her emotions back under control. “I must look awful… Five years hopping through time and you look exactly the same… Still so beautiful.”   
  
“You think I’m beautiful?”  
  
 _Oh shit._ “Of course I do. I always did.” _Where the hell is that wine?_ She wondered, trying to ignore just how fast her heart was beginning to beat.   
  
“And, Lena, you are too.” Kara leaned closer to her to get a better look, examining her face closely. “You still look exactly the same. Your hair is longer and you have a new scar on your side.”  
  
“How do you know I have a scar there?”  
  
“Huh?” Kara said, her eyes darting up towards the ceiling. _Where the hell is that wine?_ “I can see through-”  
  
“Are you looking right now?!”   
  
“No!”  
  
“Ahem.”  
  
The waiter had returned with the bottle of wine and set it down along with two glasses. “Pardon the intrusion,” he mumbled, slipping away almost silently.   
  
Lena took the bottle, pouring a splash into each glass. “There was an aberration in the cretaceous period, I was clumsy and got bit by a velociraptor,” she said casually.  
  
Kara had just brought her glass to her lips, her eyes widening and setting the glass down almost hard enough for the wine to slosh out.   
  
“You got attacked by a dinosaur?!”   
  
Lena nodded. “Ray got eaten but he flew out. Don’t ask how.” She gave her glass a swirl and took a thoughtful sip.   
  
Kara began to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand. “It sounds like you had fun.”  
  
“ _This_ is fun.”   
  
“It is. We could always do it again, you know?”  
  
“Kara…”  
  
“I’m sorry,” she said, waving a hand out in front of her. “You agreed to one dinner, I’ll honor the terms of our agreement.”  
  
Lena’s face fell. “Kara, I would have come to dinner with you either way. No one’s holding a gun to my head. I wanted to be here, OK?”   
  
Kara nodded and was able to muster a small smile. “Our food’s coming.”  
  
“How do you?” Lena pointed to her ear and nodded. “Super Hearing. I always forget.” _Can you hear my heart?_

* * *

  
  
After they had eaten, Lena was pleasantly surprised to see that the remaining unease that had lingered between them seemed to have vanished completely. She might have been able to blame the wine but she knew that Kara couldn’t. Setting her glass down she realized just how long they had been talking.   
  
“Time…”   
  
“What?” Kara asked, resting her chin on her hand and looking up at Lena.   
  
“Time always seems to slip away when I’m with you.”   
  
“Is that a good thing?”   
  
Lena nodded. “Very good.”   
  
Kara smiled shyly and was quiet for a time. “Do you want to go for a walk?”   
  
“No dessert?” Lena asked, clearly surprised.   
  
_Maybe after._ “Not today.” She stood up and bent her arm a bit for Lena to take.   
  
“Because you’re paying I’m expected to hang off your arm the rest of the night?”   
  
Kara tilted her head ever so slightly to the side. “Yes,” she said.   
  
“Fair enough.”   
  
The streets were nearly as empty as the restaurant which didn’t surprise Kara or Lena. Most sections were still closed off to the public until the DEO finished their cleanup which was still bound to take a few more weeks at least.   
  
“Do you mind?” Kara asked as she came to a stop so suddenly that Lena’s hip bumped against hers and she grabbed her arm for balance.   
  
“Mind what?”   
  
Kara looked down at her feet and Lena looked down as well surprised to see her hovering an almost imperceptible amount off the ground.   
  
“I can’t walk in heels. Like at all.”   
  
“I don’t mind, but I’m just going to slow you down,” Lena joked.   
  
“Never.” Kara shook her head and grinned. “But if you’re so worried about it…” She floated behind Lena and scooped her up easily, beginning to rise higher.   
  
“Kara!” Lena’s first instinct was to try and break free but stopped when she felt Kara’s hand brush against her side, sending her heart into a frantic rhythm.   
  
“Sorry, sorry,” Kara said, flying much slower than usual, listening to Lena’s heartbeat. She had missed that sound so much, that feeling knowing that she was there.   
  
“What are we doing here?” Lena asked as Kara touched down, setting her down gently, surprised to be back in her penthouse or what was left of it.   
  
“I actually came by here earlier.”   
  
“Why would you do that?” Lena asked.   
  
“I used to come here. A lot, actually.”   
  
“I know,” Lena said softly.   
  
“You do?” Kara said, brushing off a great deal of dust from the couch and sitting down.   
  
“I came here to get some files to make your suit, Gideon hacked the security feed inside and she told me.”   
  
“She’s nosy.”   
  
“Try living with her.”   
  
Kara smiled. “I knew that you were still out there somewhere Lena but I never found a single clue. When I came here though, I felt like you were here. I know that I only asked you for one favor but I want to ask you for one more.”   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
“You don’t need to say yes but I would really be happy if you did.”   
  
“Is that how you negotiate? Being adorable?”   
  
“I’m not adorable!”   
  
Lena grinned. “What’s the favor?”   
  
“Stay with me.”   
  
“What?”   
  
“Stay here with me. I know you can’t live in the penthouse anymore, but you could always stay with me and of course, you could always buy another place, you wouldn’t need to stay with me.”   
  
“Kara…”   
  
“And I know that things can’t go back to the way they were but I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing. I-”   
  
“I love you,” Lena said. Her head was bowed and her hands were clenched into fists in her lap.   
  
“I love you too, Lena.”   
  
“No, Kara. Not like that. God." She shook her head, hating that she was once again on the verge of tears. "Stupid Sara," she muttered. "You're right, things can't go back to the way they were before I left, Kara. I want more. I want you."  
  
"Lena..."  
  
"Sara told me to tell you everything before I left, I don't know if she was playing a joke on me or if she-" She trailed off when she felt Kara's hand cup her cheek, her thought process not so much derailed as crashed into a fiery pile of twisted metal.  
  
"I love you too. Like that," she clarified, hammering the point home by leaning close and kissing her. It's not just Lena's heart that she could hear but her own. Both of them hammering at the same frantic rhythm as she slid an arm around her waist, pulling Lena closer to her, feeling one of Lena's arm snaking around the small of her back...  
  


* * *

  
"Someone is back awfully late," Sara said. "Maybe we should have given you a curfew."  
  
"Maybe," Lena said, trying her best to hide her face as she strode past, the smile plastered there stuck quite stubbornly.  
  
"Dinner, my ass," Sara muttered, grinning to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surely it will be smooth sailing from here on out...


	9. Change of plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena mulls staying in the city while Kara finds herself pulled into a confrontation with someone she never thought she would see again

When Lena awoke the next morning, she didn’t immediately roll out of bed as she usually did. Instead, she wrapped herself tighter in her blankets, replaying last night in her head. _Maybe if half the penthouse wasn’t destroyed we might have…_ Blushing furiously, she got up, padding down the hall towards the bathroom, not needing to check her watch to know that she would likely be last in line for the bathroom which made it all the more surprising that it was empty. Turning her wrist towards her to look at her watch she saw that she hadn’t slept in that late.  
  
“Gideon? Where is everyone?”  
  
“They’re all in the galley having breakfast.”  
  
“Talking about me I suppose,” she muttered, squeezing some toothpaste onto her toothbrush.  
  
“As a matter of fact, yes, they are, but Kara is the one who is steering the conversation so you can’t blame them too much.”  
  
“Kara’s here?” Lena asked, beginning to brush furiously, looking at her reflection in the mirror and grimacing when she saw a pillow crease on her right cheek. Running her hand through her hair in an attempt to give it a bit more volume she quickly rinsed her mouth and sprinted down the hall still in her pajamas.  
  
“-And Ray is still on the comms and he’s narrating everything. Needless to say he put us all off food for a couple of days.”  
  
Lena skidded to a stop, sliding into view just as Nate finished his story. Wishing dearly she could have been just a few minutes earlier. _Why did he have to tell the dinosaur story?_

  
“Lena! I was just telling Kara about the time-”  
  
“I heard,” she said and slid into her usual seat, surprised to see Kara had chosen the seat across from it to sit down in. “There were other stories you could have told her,” she muttered, waving shyly at Kara.  
  
“Yeah, but everybody loves the dinosaur story.”  
  
“I don’t,” Ray said, stirring his coffee and looking uncharacteristically dour.  
  
“Neither do I,” Lena hissed.  
  
“You were so brave,” Kara said, looking over her coffee mug at her, grinning.  
  
“ _That’s_ what she took away from that story?” Zari asked, goggling at Kara.  
  
“Gideon told me that this is your favorite seat,” Kara said and pointed.  
  
“She thinks I can’t see her when she tries to slip out during the morning briefing,” Sara said.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Lena asked, running a nervous hand through her hair.  
  
“I just wanted to see you and say hi to everyone. I thought maybe you could give me a tour?”  
  
“Stay out of my room,” Mick growled.  
  
“Lena and Mick have a similar outlook on people going into their rooms,” Zari said helpfully.  
  
“Let me show you the bridge first,” Lena said, grabbing a muffin off the table and standing back up, reaching out to take Kara’s hand but hesitating when she realized how everyone was staring at them. Kara had either not noticed or not cared because she grabbed Lena’s hand and smiled at everyone, allowing herself to be led away.  
  
“So…” Kara said, her head moving as if it were on a swivel as Lena gave her the tour. “I might have had an ulterior motive for coming here, not that I didn’t want to see you,” she added hastily.  
  
“How nefarious,” Lena teased.  
  
“I would have asked you last night but we were a little busy…”  
  
“With all the kissing?” Lena arched an eyebrow and grinned watching the color rise in Kara’s cheeks like a thermometer.  
  
“That,” Kara said and nodded shyly. “Are we,” she pointed from herself and then to Lena and back. “Dating?”  
  
Lena nodded slowly. “We _definitely_ are.”  
  
“And that would make you my girlfriend?”  
  
“That is generally how dating works,” Lena said, unable to stop herself from grinning. She glanced behind the both of them before stepping in front of Kara and wrapping her hands around her waist. The height difference between the two was just enough that Lena had to push up onto your tiptoes to plant a kiss on Kara that she meant to only be a light peck that soon turned into something more.  
  
However wonderful last night had been, Lena could feel that they had left things unfinished. Maybe because neither of them wanted their first time to be in the wreckage of her former penthouse but kissing her again now felt like hitting the unpause button. Lena could feel that same fire licking at her insides and that desire to begin the arduous process of making up for five years of lost time, more if you count all the time that Lena had spent in love with Kara while not having the courage to confess.  
  
She could feel Kara’s hand glide up along her spine, her back arching as she pressed herself more firmly against Kara. Last night had been the first time that their bodies had been flush against one another and however fairytale it may sound, Lena can’t help but feel that they fit neatly together like two halves becoming whole. She kissed the corner of Kara’s mouth, both of them exchanging small pecks that are more affectionate than anything else but still send a jolt of electricity through her like nothing else. Feeling Kara’s tongue dart timidly out and flick over her tongue is enough to make her melt and she’s vaguely aware that if Kara were ever to find out just how much an effect it has on her she would be setting herself to lose every disagreement they have from there on out.  
  
Lena’s complaints about the Waverider’s size may hinge on hyperbole at times but she knew that if the two were to continue kissing in the hallway that someone would happen across them. Pulling away reluctantly, Lena’s hair an even bigger mess than it was when she woke up, she pointed over her shoulder looking dazed. “Did you want to see the jump ship?”  
  
“I already saw the jump ship,” Kara said, trying to catch her breath.  
  
“Is it always going to be this difficult to sneak away with you?” Lena teased, her hand sliding along the small of her back.  
  
“Oh!” Comprehension dawned on Kara’s face and she let her arm slide around Lena’s waist. “Lead the way.”  
  
Lena could recall a few flings in university but those were more of a distraction than anything else. Not even what one would consider a crush and definitely not love. But if it were, she’s convinced that this is what it would feel like. An all-encompassing desire for more and with only the vaguest ideas of what that really was. She wanted to write Kara poetry and to kiss her some more. She wanted to show Kara just how much she loved her, how much she had missed her in every way imaginable.  
  
Right there at the moment, she wanted to make love with her in the jump ship.  
  
“-I’ll be right there, Alex.”  
  
Lena had come out of her daydream just in time to catch the tail end of her conversation but the look on Kara’s face told her all she needed.  
  
“Emergency?”  
  
Kara nodded, sheepishly, and looked longingly at the jump ship which was not more than fifteen feet away.  
  
“I’ve forgotten how troublesome this city can be.”  
  
“When I get back we can talk about you moving back to this troublesome city and…” She pointed to the jump ship.  
  
“We’ll be doing both of those things in my room…” She pulled Kara close and kissed her briefly before pulling away. There’s a brief moment where Lena is almost convinced that Kara will stay and a rush of wind that is nearly strong enough to bowl her over and she opened her eyes to see that she was alone.  
  
Flying always had the secondary effect of clearing her head. This time though, the fog is far thicker and one that she would rather not find her way out of just yet. Flying faster, she had intentionally remained mum on just what emergency she needed to rush out to. Reports of a mechanized suit attacking the few civilians that had begun trickling back into the city. Lex’s suit…  
  
It can’t be though. He’s dead. Lena had seen to that. His death might not have been the wedge that had been driven between her and Lena but it had been the hammer. She refused to dredge up those memories now of all times unless absolutely necessary. Putting on another burst of speed she touched the symbol on her chest, Lena’s suit forming over her own as she flew. There was the familiar feeling of suffocating and it was Lena who she thought of to quell the potential storm, to give her something to focus on.

* * *

  
“Can we talk?”  
  
It wasn’t the first time that Lena had sought out Sara but it was the first time that there hadn’t been something mission-critical to get her to come running. She had poked her head into the Captain’s quarters and hadn’t been surprised to see Ava curled up on the tiny couch beside Sara reading what could only be a Rebecca Silver novel with the over the top salacious cover. _Three breasts, honestly,_ Lena thought.  
  
“Of course we can. Is it about what we talked about before?”  
  
Lena nodded. She turned around to check that the door really was closed and that no one was lurking in some dark corner. “Kara wants me to stay here in National City.”  
  
“And you want to stay too?”  
  
Lena nodded. “I do but I don’t… I like it here on the Waverider. I like being able to do good and being here with everyone.”  
  
“Aww,” Ava said, clearing her throat and shaking her head. “Sorry, go on.”  
  
“But I can’t leave Kara again. I don’t know what to do,” she said in a very small voice.  
  
“You know that once you get the girl that’s when you’re supposed to ride off into the sunset, right?”  
  
“It’s not that simple,” Lena said. “The timeline-”  
  
“Will get broken again and we’ll fix it. Even if we have to do it down a man.”  
  
“Really don’t like how glib you are about that, Babe,” Ava said. She turned to Lena, setting her book aside. “I read your file when Sara floated the idea past me about you joining the Legends.”  
  
Lena grimaced slightly, she had always been a private person and even after growing close to Ava, she didn’t like the reminder that her entire life had been condensed into a report on a bureaucrats desk, even if it had been Ava’s. “I know.”  
  
“I _might_ have taken a peek at Kara’s as well.”  
  
“That is highly unprofessional,” Sara said reproachfully, looking amused.  
  
“Maybe,” Ava said cagily. “But the amount of time the two of you danced around one another.” She held up the book she had been reading. “If your life was a romance book I would have tossed it into the trash. You two couldn’t see what was right in front of you and then the two of you spent years missing each other. Don’t do that to yourself or to Kara again.”  
  
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Sara said. “Ava’s right. Between an adventure and the girl? Always choose the girl, always.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on Ava’s temple. “Unless you can have both.”  
  
“That would be nice… I-”  
  
There was a chirp on Lena’s comms and knew that it could only be Kara. “Speak of the devil,” she muttered, turning away from both Ava and Sara.  
  
“Kara? What is it?”  
  
There was silence on the other end before a voice that Lena had hoped she would never have to hear again answered.  
  
“No,” the voice said silkily. “But she is here.”  
  
“If you hurt her…” she hissed.  
  
“Is that any way to talk to your mother, Lena? I won’t hurt her, not that I could with her wearing that suit… Your design, I assume? I can’t say the same for her sister though…”  
  
“What do you want?”  
  
“So amiable,” Lillian said. “I want your research, Lena. More specifically I want the Project Chronos prototype.”  
  
“What do you want with that?”  
  
“Let’s not play games here, Lena. Bring me what I want or I kill Supergirl’s sister while she watches.”  
  
“Where are you?”  
  
“L-Corp. Or what’s left of it. Don’t keep me waiting.”  
  
Lena heard her cut the connection and she closed her eyes tightly, allowing herself one deep breath before opening them again.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Sara asked, already having gotten up off the couch.  
  
Lena would like nothing more than to explain everything if she had the time but with Lex gone, only she knows that Lillian Luthor is not one to be trifled with. Testing the limits of her patience with Alex’s life hanging in the balance is not something she is willing to do. “My mother has Alex, she wants my research... “ She walked over to a table displaying a few artifacts that Mick had stolen throughout their adventures. Beside Snart’s Cold Gun and a pink ring emblazoned with a design resembling a starburst was the device that Lena had used to travel through time. “She wants this.”  
  
“Let me call the team, we-”  
  
Lena shook her head. “We don’t have time. You don’t know my mother. If I don’t go now if she even thinks that I’m trying to double-cross her… She’ll kill Alex.”  
  
“And what about you?” Sara asked.  
  
“She won’t kill me... “ Lena let out a mirthless chuckle. “At least I don’t think she will. My mother is dangerous… Giving her something like this…”  
  
“Go,” Sara said. “We’ll figure it out _after_. After you take the jump ship we’ll follow at a safe distance, stay cloaked…”  
  
Lena nodded, sprinting down the hall towards the jump ship, her heart pounding as she tried to keep the panic that threatened to overwhelm her at bay.  
  


* * *

  
  
The scene inside Lena’s old office is so absurd that despite the panic and fear bouncing around in her chest, Lena almost can’t stop herself from laughing. Lillian has a gun pointed at Alex, held almost lazily while Kara is sitting in a dust-covered chair in the corner, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.  
  
“Let her go,” Lena said, stepping out of the jump ship and holding out her hand to show that she did have what her mother wanted.  
  
“No, hello? No, I missed you?”  
  
“What is there to miss,” Lena snapped coldly. “Let Alex go free and I’ll give you what you want.”  
  
“I’m the one making demands, Lena, not you. Sit down.”  
  
Lena’s mouth was set into a firm unyielding line but she sat down beside Lillian, keeping ample space between them.  
  
“I always knew you were cruel, Lena. You kill Lex and then disappear without even a phone call?” She tutted and shook her head sadly.  
  
“Considering the people I was raised by, you can’t blame me for being cruel.”  
  
“No,” Lillian admitted. “I did look for you though. Perhaps not as desperately as Supergirl…” she said, grinning when she saw the look of hurt pass over Kara’s face. “Imagine my surprise when I took stock of all of the research you left behind at L-Corp and found only one item missing.” She pointed to the device clutched in Lena’s hand.  
  
“Did you feel that guilty about shooting your own brother? Or so hurt that everyone that you thought loved you was lying to you?”  
  
“I do love her!” Kara shouted, not moving from the spot that Lillian had likely ordered her to, her hands clenched tightly into fists.  
  
Lillian smirked. “Yes, I suppose you do. That's why I knew if I had any chance of seeing you again, Lena, you would need proper motivation to return from whatever time you had run to.”  
  
“You thought it would be that easy for me to return?” Lena asked, looking at Lillian incredulously.  
  
“Nothing is impossible for a Luthor… But I knew that the only thing that would get you to return was the same thing that sent you away. So I created a device that would send out a signal pulling every last remaining bit of Krypton to National City.”  
  
“You?” Alex looked gobsmacked, a thin trail of blood had tried on the corner of her mouth and she had been favoring one side that made it look as if she were nursing a few broken ribs.  
  
“You could have killed thousands. You could have killed Kara.”  
  
“You would have come for the funeral,” Lillian said dismissively. “And after what you’ve done, Lena… Glass houses and all.”  
  
“What do you want with Project Chronos?  
  
“If you need to ask then you’re even stupider than I thought.” She held out her hand. “Give it to me.”  
  
“Let Alex go first,” she repeated. You can keep the gun pointed at me.”  
  
“I don’t want to kill you, Lena. You would make a very poor hostage and I think you know that. Give me the device and then I’ll go.”  
  
Lena held out the device to her, dropping it into Lillian’s outstretched palm.  
  
“There.,” Lillian said, sounding satisfied. She kept the gun trained on Alex, standing up and tapping a button on her watch, a portal opening up to her right. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you both,” she said. She turned to Kara and looked her over, an inscrutable expression on her face. “Try not to break my daughter’s heart again,” she said, stepping into the portal which disappeared immediately.  
  


* * *

  
  
“I said I’m fine,” Alex insisted, sitting up in the medbay of the Waverider and wincing.  
  
“Is that how annoying I sounded,” Kara asked, forcing her to lay back down and shaking her head.  
  
“More,” Alex said.  
  
“If you like, Kara, I can give your sister a stronger sedative,” Gideon suggested.  
  
“No,” Alex said, waving an arm out in front of her. “The one you gave me was strong enough.  
  
“Evidently not…” Gideon said. “It’s easier to treat you if you lay still, Miss Danvers.”  
  
Kara nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
“Fine,” Alex muttered. “But you need to go after Lillian.”  
  


“If we had any idea where to look…” Sara said. “We’ve been trying to track her and come up with nothing."  
  
“She’ll know better than to rush in. For all her faults she is not impatient.”  
  
“How much trouble can she cause?” Ray asked. “Scale of one to ten.”  
  
Lena exchanged a look with both Alex and Kara and rubbed at her temple. “Twenty?” She sighed. “We need to find her as soon as possible. A Luthor, loose in the timeline? I don’t even want to think about how much damage she could cause…”  
  
 _We?_ Kara’s attention had been on Alex but she turned to Lena trying to catch her eye.  
  
“Gideon’s scanning for anomalies and _someone_ had to stir up trouble, at least we know who it is that we’ll be hunting.”  
  
“Lena’s mother,” Zari said. “Is no one else weirded out by that?  
  
“We should leave now,” Lena said, pacing back and forth, deep in thought.  
  
“ _We_ should,” Sara said. “Lena I thought-”  
  
“I can’t just let Lillian go free when I’m the one who handed over the tech she needed to time travel. I need to clean up my own messes.” She turned to Kara apologetically, catching a brief glimpse of her cape as she exited the medbay.  
  
“Kara!”  
  
“I’m going to go patrol the city,” she said. “Look for any signs of Lillian.”  
  
“Wait!” Lena jogged in front of her and planted herself in front of her. “Kara, I-”  
  
“You’re not staying, are you?”  
  
Lena bit her lip. “I want to, Kara. There’s nothing I want more but my mother running around in the timeline…”  
  
“I understand,” Kara said, blinking back tears. “I-”  
  
“No, Kara you don't. I wanted to talk with you in private about it."  
  
"That's not necessary, Lena, I understand."  
  
Lena made a face and shook her adamantly. "I want you to come with me.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Come with me." Lena wrapped her arms around Kara's waist, looking up at her. "I can't leave you again... And it wouldn't be forever. Just until we put my mother in time jail." She grinned, knowing how ridiculous that sounded. "I know you have a city to protect and the rooms are too small and we only have the one bathroom..."  
  
Kara sniffed, wrapping Lena up into a tight hug, leaning close and kissing the shell of her ear. "When do we leave?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ride is not even close to over. Thank you so much for sticking with the story thus far.


	10. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena prepare to leave while the team mobilizes to make Kara feel welcome

“It’s not too late to give her the stronger sedative,” Lena muttered. She had never stood behind anyone before but she had taken refuge behind Kara when they walked back into the medbay.    
  
Kara shook her head but after taking a few more steps she leaned closer to Lena. “That can be Plan B.”    
  
“Do you want to tell her while I tell everyone else?”   
  
“You’re going to make me do it alone?” Kara asked indignantly.    
  
“No, of course not,” Lena said. “If you wanted to do it alone though I wasn’t going to stop you either.” The corners of her mouth twitched upward and she looked apologetically up at Kara, falling into step beside her and taking her hand in hers. “But if she takes a swing at me…”   
  
“I really don’t think she’ll be that mad,” Kara said. 

* * *

  
  
“You want to go where?!?”    
  
“Miss Danvers, if your vitals continue to spike to such dangerous levels, I  _ will  _ sedate you.”   
  
“With Lena,” Kara said.   
  
“I know with Lena. I mean, where do you and Lena want to go?”   
  
“The Temporary-”   
  
“Temporal,” Lena hissed.   
  
“The Temporal Zone.”    
  
“And where the hell is that, exactly?”   
  
“Uhhh,” Kara said, looking at Lena.   
  
“It’s between time. In a manner of speaking…” Lena said.    
  
“You want to go  _ between  _ time? With Lena?”    
  
“Vitals, Miss Danvers,” Gideon warned.   


“Not forever,” Kara said placatingly. “Just until we catch Lillian.”   
  
“What about your job, the city, your apartment?”   
  
“Well, I’ve been on thin ice for years really… I can try and take a leave of absence but if not, then I can always find another job when I get back,” Kara said quickly, trying to gloss over that particular hiccup. And the city will be fine. There is J’onn and Nia and you. And I can always sublet to someone.”    
  
“And you just decided this now? You and Lena were only gone a few minutes. I’m guessing that means the two of you have made up?”   
  
“Considering what I caught them doing in the hallway I’d say they did a lot more than that,” Zari muttered.    
  
“I need to talk to Lena,” Alex said, pulling herself up into a sitting position, wincing a bit and cradling her ribs with her left hand. “In private.”   
  
“Nice knowing you, Princess,” Mick said.   
  
“I can show you where your room will be, Kara.” Sara jerked her head back towards the door. “We all can. Even Gideon.” Everyone but Zari looked happy for an excuse to leave and quickly filed out.   
  
“Ummm. Alright…” Kara looked torn on what she should do but allowed Sara to lead her out, mouthing a quick ‘sorry’ to Lena before the door closed behind everyone.   
  
“Do you mind?” Alex asked and pointed to the chair next to her bed. “I’d get up but I’m worried that Gideon might shoot a dart into my neck.”   
  
“You joke, but I wouldn’t put it past her…” Lena sat down in the seat that Kara had been sitting in and looked at Alex, wondering if she was in for a lecture or Alex was just going to start yelling. Both seemed likely enough and it must have shown on her face because Alex’s stern expression softened somewhat.    
  
“I’m sorry, Lena.”   
  
“For what?” Lena asked, looking completely nonplussed.   
  
“For everything that happened five years ago, for keeping you in the dark about Kara’s identity. For hurting you. I’ve been wanting to talk to you since you came back but with everything that’s been going on…”

“Oh…”   
  
“And now you’re going back with the Legends and you want Kara to go with you…”   
  
“I do.”   
  
“And you two are…”   
  
“We’re dating.” Lena felt heat rush into her cheeks but still found herself smiling in spite of how nervous she felt telling Alex without Kara there beside her.    
  
“Congratulations…”   
  
“Thank you,” Lena said softly, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.    
  
“But if Kara and you are going to go traipsing through time,” she said, sounding extremely uncomfortable with the very idea. “I need to know that you’ll be there for her. That you won’t go running off again without a word.”   
  
Lena nodded, understanding at once just why Alex was so hesitant about Kara leaving with the Legends. The idea of Kara time-traveling might have worried her but the possibility of Lena hurting her again was what scared her more, and who could blame her?   
  
“Leaving Kara… Hurting her as I did… I will regret that for the rest of my life and I’ll never stop trying to make it right, but I would never leave her again. Not ever.”   
  
Lena expected Alex to say more, to threaten even which made it all the more surprising when she leaned over to Lena very gingerly and looped one arm around her shoulder to pull her into a hug. “Watch her back for me?”    
  
“I will.”   
  
“Make sure she watches yours too," she said, squeezing a little tighter.   
  
Lena smiled and nodded. “I can do that.”    
  
Alex pulled away and leaned back, some much-needed color back in her cheeks. “Kara wasn’t the only one who missed you, Lena. After you track down your mother, I hope you consider coming back to the city. Maybe by then, we’ll have it back a bit more as you remembered it.”    
  
Lena smiled. “I hope so too.”    
  
“Can I come in now?” Kara’s voice came floating in through the closed medbay door.    
  
“God, Kara, were you eavesdropping all this time?”Alex rolled her eyes and looked at Lena. “You better get used to that.”   
  
“No!” she said, shuffling inside. “Sara was showing me my room and the ship is on the small side, I couldn’t help but overhear and thought I would pop in.”   
  
“Are you sure about this, though?” Lena asked. “The rooms on the ship make your apartment look like a palace.”   
  
“They’re cozy,” Kara countered.    
  
“Give it a week and then see how you feel,” Lena teased.    
  
“We will,” Kara said, looking smug. “Sara said I should probably pack a bag and say goodbye to everyone. Did you want to come with me, Alex?”    
  
“If it’s OK with Gideon.”   
  
“As much as it pains me to see you leave, Miss Danvers, you are free to go.”   
  


* * *

  
  
Traveling through time was the furthest thing from a vacation, especially with Lillian Luthor floating around somewhere in the timeline but Kara had a hard time thinking of it as anything but knowing that her and Lena would just be down the hall from each other.    
  
“You look like you’re packing for summer camp,” Alex said, standing off to the side and surveying Kara’s apartment. “Are you that happy?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.   
  
“I am.” Kara grinned and took a photo of her and Alex off the fridge and placed it inside the bag, wrapping it in a few of her favorite outfits that she had already packed.    
  
“So… You and Lena are dating? How did that happen?”   
  
Kara blushed and set her bag aside. “Do you really want to know?”   
  
“It’s why I asked, Kara.”   
  
Kara waved her over to the couch, flopping back onto it, and waited for Alex to join her before she started in. “So, we had dinner and we were talking about everything, what Lena had been up to and old times and I could hear her heart beating and it was going nearly as fast as mine.”   
  
“Super hearing really takes all the romance out of courtship, doesn’t it?”   
  
“It was  _ very  _ romantic," Kara said completely deadpan.   
  
“I was just joking. Go on.”

“After dinner, I took her back to her place to ask her to stay in National City and she told me that she loved me.” And…” She shrugged, looking incredibly pleased with herself. “We kissed.  _ A lot. _ ”    
  
“Just kissed?”   
  
“Well, we weren’t going to do anything else in a condemned building.” Kara’s cheeks flushed and she leaned close. “But I totally would have.”   
  
“You two are going to be insufferable for a good long while, aren’t you?”   
  
“Maybe.”   
  
“Well, maybe it’s a good thing you two can get that out of your system far away from me,” Alex snarked. “Just make sure the two of you come back in one piece. Whatever Lillian Luthor has planned, I’m sure it’s worse than anything I can come up with.”   
  
“I know,” Kara said grimly. “We’ll stop her and then we’ll come back here and-”   
  
“Live happily ever after? Alex asked, raising her left eyebrow suggestively.   
  
“That is the plan,” Kara said, grabbing her journal off the coffee table and stowing it in her bag.    


* * *

Lena was determined to not let the thought of her Mother wreaking havoc through the timeline to put a damper on the fact that Kara would be accompanying her on the Waverider, but she had spent the last half an hour fine-tuning Gideon to scan for the energy signature of the device that she had handed over. They had dealt with all manner of anachronism and aberration but only she and Kara knew just how much worse Lillian could be if given the opportunity.    
  
“Knock, knock,” Zari said, poking her head into the room and sitting down in the chair next to Lena.   
  
“Do you need something, Zari?”   
  
“No, but me and the others were talking and a little bird told us that you and Kara are dating.”   
  
“A little bird named Gideon?”   
  
“Maybe… So we just happen to swing by your old city, save it, and pick you up a girlfriend. Not the worst mission you’ve ever been on.”   
  
“No,” Lena agreed, not looking up from the console, her mouth stretched into a poorly disguised smile.    
  
“And the dating options aboard this ship get more and more depressing. By next year it’s just going to be me and Mick left.” Zari made a face and shuddered. “God that’s depressing." She drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair and spun around once before turning back to her. "But we’re all really happy for you. We’re actually planning a welcome party for Kara in the dining room. Well, Mick said he’d show up but everyone else is on board. Would she like something like that?”   
  
“She would, actually.”    
  
“So you and Kara are like a whole opposites attract kind of thing? Because when Ray threw you that party for your birthday last year you popped most of the balloons and locked yourself in your room.”   
  
Lena actually laughed at that. “Yes,” she said. “You have no idea but my family is notorious in their distaste for Kryptonians.”   
  
“Seemed like it skipped a generation.”   
  
“Evidently.” Lena rubbed at her neck, working out a kink and stood up. “I can help you set up if you want.”    
  
“Because you want to be such a good girlfriend?” she teased.    
  
At least I have one,” Lena said, standing up and slipping past Zari, turning around to smirk at her before she stepped out.   
  
Zari didn’t get up right away, watching Lena walk away before standing up. “Not gonna lie, that one hurt a little bit.”   


* * *

  
  
There wasn’t much for Lena to actually help with considering the limited space they had to work with but she did have the fabricator make a half dozen cakes in addition to the one that Ray had placed in the center of the table. She didn’t have the heart to tell any of them that with Kara onboard the Waverider there was likely to be a line forming at the fabricator in the morning as well as the bathroom.    
  
“Haircut said I need to put the hat on, do I really have to?" Mick asked, brandishing the pink party hat like a shiv.    
  
“Kara  _ would  _ like it.”   
  
It looked like Mick would have very much liked to argue but seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” he said, cramming it on his head. “But you owe me.”    
  
“Don’t you owe me for not telling everyone that you cheated during our last poker game?”   
  
Mick shrugged. “We’re even now,” he said before stalking off.    
  
“Miss Luthor? Kara and the other Miss Danvers have just returned to the Waverider. Would you like me to direct them here?”   
  
“If you can keep yourself from spoiling the surprise.”   
  
“Fingers crossed, Miss Luthor.”    
  
There was really no reason to hide, not that it had stopped Ray from trying but Kara did look rather surprised to see them all gathered together, or maybe it was simply shock at seeing them all wearing such ridiculous hats. Dropping the bag she had slung over her shoulder onto the table she floated over to Lena and wrapped her up in a hug, lifting her a few inches off the ground.    
  
“Did you do all this for me?”   
  
“It was actually Sara’s idea,” Lena said.    
  
“Well, it’s not every day that we get a new Legend.”   
  
“It does seem to happen quite regularly though,” Ray said.    
  
“Should I be concerned,” Alex asked, looking alarmed at the prospect of such high turnover.    
  
“Well…” Ray said, counting off on his fingers.    
  
“No!” Lena said and gave her best corporate smile that had the opposite effect of putting Alex’s mind at ease. She would need to fill Kara in on just what had happened during her time with the Legends but she didn’t think giving Alex the condensed version of events would put her mind at ease.    
  
“The mortality rate for the team is actually quite low,” Gideon said. “I can give you the exact figures if you like.”   
  
“You do and I’ll start unplugging wires,” Lena hissed.    
  
“Not counting myself,” Sara said, catching Ava’s eye and winking.    
  
“We have cake,” Ray said, taking a step back and gesturing to both Kara and Alex.    
  
Kara handed Alex a party hat, already wearing one herself. “Cake,” she said, giving Alex a little push towards the table.    
  
“We have booze too,” Mick said, giving the bottle in his hand a little wiggle.   
  
“You should have led with that,” Alex said.    
  
The impromptu celebration lasted far longer than Lena had expected. She had a sneaking suspicion that it might have had something to do with the fact that Alex seemed like she wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye. But with all the food eaten and an impressive amount of the alcohol gone as well, it seemed that she had run out of excuses to stay.    
  
“I guess I should let you get going,” Alex said.    
  
“Unless you want to come too,” Sara said.  "The more the merrier."  
  
“If she does we are  _ definitely  _ making a bathroom schedule,” Zari muttered.    
  
“Tempting, but I need to be here. And Lena is right, the rooms are definitely way too small. Just don’t stay gone too long. When you all get back, drinks are on me.”   
  
“You’re gonna regret that,” Mick said, looking pleased.    
  
“I’ll walk you out,” Kara said.    
  
“We both will,” Lena said, standing up and walking over to Alex.    
  
Sara nodded. “Then we’ll get ready to take off. Vacation is officially over.”    
  
“We did spend a lot of it picking up glowing green rocks, I don’t know if I would call that a vacation,” Nate complained.    
  
“Trust me,” Lena said, turning around for a second to look at him. “After meeting my mother you’ll be begging to do manual labor again.”    
  
“This is weird, right?” The three of them had stepped off the ship and were standing in a patch of moonlight. “I’m going to miss having you around,” Alex said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. Having Lena not around was bad enough…”   
  
“It  _ is  _ weird, but I won’t be gone forever. Lena either. Just think of it as an extra-long vacation. We could always stop by for a visit. We can do that, right?”    
  
Lena nodded. “We could. There’s always the jump ship or I can just steal Ava’s Time courier. You won’t even notice we’re gone.”   
  
Alex chuckled and shook her head. “I’ll notice.” She pulled both of them into a hug and nestled her head against Kara’s shoulder. “Take care of each other and give Lillian a kick for me if she won’t come quietly.”   
  
“It would be my supreme pleasure,” Lena said.    
  
Alex laughed and broke the hug only to wrap her arms back around Kara for another quick hug. “Go on… I have a whole city to clean up while you’re away.”   
  
“Make sure you try and get the Big Belly Burger open again before we come back.”   
  
Alex rolled her eyes. “I’ll see what I can do, Kara. There might be a few more important buildings I’ll have to push to the front of the line.”    
  
“Tell them it’s for Supergirl, that should light a fire under them,” Lena said, stepping back onto the Waverider and waving.    
  
“Alex took a few steps back and waved back. She crossed her arms over her chest and blinked back tears that she would only let fall once the Waverider had departed. “When you two come back we’re all having a game night together.”    
  
Lena glanced over at Kara and grinned. “You want to be on my team?”   
  
Kara’s arm wrapped around Lena’s waist while her other hand hovered over the button that would close up the cargo bay. “I’ll always be on your team.” She blew Alex a kiss and wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. “It’s a date.” She pressed the button to close the cargo bay, waving right up until it had closed completely.    
  
“We’ll be back,” Lena assured her, resting her head against Kara’s shoulder and giving her a tiny tug to steer her back towards the bridge.    
  
“I know,” Kara said. “Just like I knew you would be back someday.”    
  
Lena’s gaze slid away from Kara’s face and to the floor, pressing more insistently against Kara as they walked, leaning upon the balls of her feet to whisper in her ear. “I love you,” she breathed, pressing her lips to Kara's jawline before pulling away and falling into step with her.    
  
Stepping onto the bridge, Lena wasn’t at all surprised to see everyone seated in their usual positions, Ava in the seat beside Sara, Nate, and Ray sitting next to one another leaning over the way kids do when passing notes in school and Mick and Zari on either side. Lena’s seat was unoccupied as was the seat next to it.    
  


Lena sat down and pointed to the empty seat next to her.    
  
“Is that my seat?” Kara asked.   
  
Sara nodded. “It is, indeed. Just don’t make me separate you two,” she warned which made Nate laugh and elbow Ray in the arm.   
  
“I was actually talking to you and Ray.”    
  
“Very nice to have you aboard, Kara,” Gideon said. “This very scenario is similar to the dream that Miss Luthor frequently has of you, although you are wearing far more-”   
  
“Gideon if you finish that sentence I swear to God-”   
  
“May I remind you again, Miss Luthor, it’s not wise to threaten the super computer in charge of the life support systems.”    
  
“This happens a lot,” Zari said, leaning over and giving Kara’s chair a nudge with her foot.    
  
“Them arguing or Gideon threatening to turn the air off?”   
  
“Both. Welcome aboard.” Zari settled back in her seat, putting her hands behind her head and yawning.    
  
“All right, Legends, we have a new member and a new mission, everybody, strap in, and let's go hunt down Lena’s mother before she breaks time.” Sara made a face and looked at Zari. “That does feel a little weird.”    
  
“You ready, Supergirl?” Lena whispered, reaching over to take Kara’s hand in hers.    
  
“I’ve been ready.”   
  
“Well then, without further ado, let’s put National City in the rearview.”   
  
The Waverider lifted up into the air and Alex took another step back. She watched it rise straight up before dipping low again and doing another pass. She raised her hand once more, waving, already knowing that Kara could see her and only hoped that Lena could as well. She watched the ship fly up, the air shimmering around it as it disappeared from view, a bright flash of light momentarily lighting up the night sky signaling its departure. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That turned out a lot fluffier than I realized it would. Time shennanigans next chapter :P Thanks for reading!


	11. My Heart Will Go On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With no sign of Lillian Luthor's presence in the timeline, Kara finds herself enjoying having Lena back in her life as the two navigate a new relationship and finds herself on her first official Legends mission

For the first few days aboard the Waverider, Lena couldn’t stop herself from worrying that Kara would get cold feet about staying aboard the Waverider and request to be dropped off back in National City where there was no sentient A.I. to wake you out of a dead sleep or ‘time quakes’ that buffeted the ship just as you were getting into the shower and sending you sprawling out onto the floor, soapy, wet and sore. Not to mention the severe lack of privacy that one had to deal with. But none of those things seemed to phase Kara in the slightest. Her and Gideon got on like a house on fire and she seemed to enjoy everyone's company, even Mick. And as for the time quakes? A particularly large one might have sent her flying if Lena hadn’t been there to catch her…  
  
Lena still wasn’t used to having Kara right down the hall from her after being apart for more than five years and even though they walked down to breakfast together there were still times that she was surprised to see her looking at her from across the breakfast table. Always waiting until Kara looked up at her to smile before returning her attention to her food which made Lena’s heart thump away just a little bit faster and watching the shy smile slide across Kara’s face when it did. It was one of the few secrets that the two of them could share on a ship as small as the Waverider. 

While she had hated the lack of privacy when she had first come aboard the Waverider, looking back it was something that she had desperately needed. The Legends had kept her from spiraling any more than she already had when she had left National City and given her a home, albeit slightly dysfunctional, although after being raised as a Luthor she much preferred the Legends brand of dysfunction. 

That morning, it wasn’t Gideon making an overly loud announcement or an explosion from the laboratory but a shaft of sunlight that inched lazily across her face. It wasn’t actual sunlight, of course. There was no sun to speak of while they were on the Waverider but Lena had the foresight to install yellow sun lamps not just in Kara’s quarters but in the medbay and the bridge as well and had put them on a timer in Kara’s room to simulate sunrise. she felt Kara stir beside her and the arm draped around her waist tightened and pulled her closer.  
  
“Morning,” Lena said.  
  
“Morning,” Kara mumbled. “How did you sleep?” Lena could feel her breath against her neck when she spoke and each word sent a small shiver down her back.  
  
“I’ve never slept better.” She reached down and grabbed Kara’s hand around her waist, wrapping it more securely around her and snuggling closer to her.  
  
“You say that every morning,” Kara said, sounding more amused than anything.  
  
“Because every morning I mean it.” It was the kind of romantic platitude that Lena would have never imagined coming from her. She was far from the ice queen that the tabloids sometimes tried to paint her as but she had never considered herself a romantic. She had always been fascinated by the concept, her favorite books and movies all contained an element of romance that she found herself drawn to like a moth to a flame, but it hadn’t been until meeting Kara she felt like she understood it herself.  
  
When Kara’s stomach made an impressive growling noise, it made Lena start to giggle. “I guess that’s my cue to go get changed so we can grab some breakfast.” She stuck one leg out from under the blankets and slid out from under Kara’s arm. She groped for the oversized t-shirt she usually wore to bed, shook it out, and pulled it over her head.  
  
Lena stood up and had the sudden urge to crawl back into bed when she saw how Kara had immediately made use of the extra space on the bed and spread out so that she took up the entirety of the mattress by herself.  
  
“Comfy?” Lena asked, one hand on the door.  
  
“Very. You going to walk me down to the galley?”  
  
“Do you even need to ask?” She gave Kara a flirty wave and slipped out the door, padding down the hall towards her room. The first night that Kara had stayed over in her room it had been because they had simply stayed up too late talking and had fallen asleep leaning against one another in bed. But every subsequent night after that the two had come to the unspoken agreement to take turns sleeping over in each other’s room. If anyone else found out they might have warned them that they were moving far too fast and if Alex caught wind she would likely have something to say to the both of them but to Lena, it felt right and while they hadn’t discussed it she knew that Kara felt the same way which was all that really mattered.  
  
She had her hand on the door when she heard the tiniest sound from behind her. Whipping around, Lena looked far more guilty than she needed to be and felt her cheeks turning red when she saw Zari coming up the hallway.  
  
“Don’t know if you can still classify it as a walk of shame if you just live down the hall and definitely not with that big of a smile on your face.” Instead of stopping to chat she merely waggled her bottle of shampoo at Lena when she passed, turning an imaginary key in front of her mouth and winking before disappearing down the hall.  
  


* * *

  
  
“When Alex told me to watch your back I wonder if she meant dietary choices as well?”  
  
“What?” Kara looked up from a plate weighed down with a large stack of pancakes, potstickers, bacon, and onion rings while she used her elbow to push aside a plate that had only five minutes before been piled high with muffins. “It’s exciting to know I can eat anything I want.”  
  
“Can and should are very different things, Kara,” Lena teased, taking a bite of her scone and dusting her hands off before she reached for her coffee.  
  
“And you don’t gain any weight at all?” Zari asked.  
  
Kara shook her head. “I don’t think it’s possible.”  
  
“I wouldn’t even need the flight or the laser eyes, just your metabolism,” Zari said. She took a giant bite of the doughnut she was holding and chewed methodically.  
  
“Here’s your coffee, Kara.” Ray set a mug down in front of her before sitting down next to Zari.  
  
“Oh, Kara… No,” Lena said, eyeing Kara’s coffee cup as if she expected it to sprout legs and start skittering across the table.  
  
“I like it,” she said, holding her cup close to her like she expected Lena to try and snatch it away from her. “The butter makes it taste a lot like a latte.”

“Then have a latte.”  
  
“You’ll all come around,” Ray said as he gave his coffee an unnecessarily loud stir, his spoon clinking against the sides of his cup. “  
  
“I love butter as much as the next person,” Zari said, her hand hovering over a number of doughnuts on a large plate, unsure of which one to pick. She finally decided and plucked one off the plate and took a large bite, speaking through a mouthful of custard. “But I will never like it in my coffee.”  
  
“I hate to interrupt this scintillating conversation, but Captain Lance requests the team come to the bridge immediately,” Gideon said.  
  
“At least we got to finish breakfast this time,” Zari said and stood up.  
  
“I haven’t finished mine yet,” Mick said, giving his beer bottle a waggle. He brought it to his lips, drained what remained, and let out a loud belch that made Kara recoil slightly.  
  
“You think I’m eating too many carbs and you’re not worried about Mick surviving on what to me looks like an all-liquid diet?”  
  
“He does eat pizza from time to time,” Lena said. “Besides we already tried an intervention, it didn't go over well.” She made a face and mouthed, ‘tell you later’ and offered Kara her hand which she grabbed hold of almost at once.  
  
“Because I don’t have a drinking problem.”  
  
“Debatable,” Ray said. “But speaking of pizza, we should definitely have a pizza party soon. After-mission celebration?”  
  
“ _That,_ I can get on board with, Ray,” Lena said.  
  


* * *

  
  
Sara, Ava, and Nate were already on the bridge by the time the rest of the Legends arrived. Sara seemed to know what Lena wanted to ask her because she shook her head before Lena even had a chance to open her mouth.  
  
“No hits on the scanner you set up to track Mommy Dearest,” she said. She pointed at the anachronism map and grinned. “Just your average run-of-the-mill anachronism.”  
  
“A level ten,” Gideon chimed in.  
  
Kara gazed at the map, pointing at the one Sara had pointed out. “And how do you know, Lillian, isn’t involved?”  
  
“I can answer this one,” Nate said. He tried to sit up from the chair he was laying in sideways and struggled to his feet. “So,” he said and pointed at the map. “It’s hard to tell now because there are so few left, side note: go us. Gideon, can you bring up the initial anachronism map?”  
  
“Certainly, Dr. Heywood.”  
  
“Oh wow,” Kara said, her eyes widening when she realized just how many anachronisms the team had needed to deal with.  
  
“Yeah, we broke time really good,” Nate said and cleared his throat nervously. “But each of the anachronisms still possessed a mathematical harmony.”  
  
“A method to the madness?” Kara asked.  
  
“Pretty much,” Nate said, looking impressed. “But there are outliers that stand out or I should say, stood out. If Lena’s mother tries to make any alterations to the timeline they should stick out like a sore thumb.”  
  
“And what caused the outliers?”  
  
“An assassin,” Zari said. “Oh, and a demon that people thought was a vampire.”  
  
“Technically a servant to a demon. A time demon,” Sara said. “We’ll catch you up later,” she assured Kara.  
  
“And if it picked up a demon once already,” Lena said, “it should have no trouble doing it again," she said coldly. "What’s the anachronism we’re looking at?”  
  
“March 1913, North Atlantic Ocean.”  
  
“We already fixed the anachronism on the Titanic, Pretty,” Rory said.  
  
“No,” Lena said. “The Titanic sank in 1912… This is different.”  
  
“Correct, Miss Luthor. The anachronism involves one of the Titanic’s sister ships, The RMS Olympic. Scans of the historical record show that after undergoing a refitting not long after the sinking of the Titanic to improve safety. Following the modifications, the RMS Olympic was touted as the ‘new’ Olympic to put passengers' minds at ease where it promptly sank on a voyage to New York. There were no survivors.”  
  
“That is depressing,” Zari said.  
  
“It also wasn’t supposed to happen,” Lena said. “The RMS Olympic never sank. It was actually retired in 1935 after a very long career. The Great Depression made ocean liners largely unprofitable and spelled the end for the kind of luxury travel for decades.”  
  
“That’s what I was going to say,” Nate said, looking slightly disappointed. “Kind of stole my thunder there… How do you know so much about ships?”  
  
“Fancy boats,” Mick said. “Of course, Princess, knows a lot about them.”  
  
“You all know that I was interested in the Titanic”  
  
“It’s her favorite movie,” Kara said and grinned at Lena.  
  
“It is,” Lena admitted, trying to hide just how pleased she was that Kara remembered something like that after all their time apart.  
  
“Well, we know what we’ll be watching on our next movie night, but first we need to fix this anachronism,” Sara said. “We have no idea what actually sank the ship so we’ll need people on the boat and a team in the Waverider.”  
  
“I already called dibs on putting my feet up,” Mick said. “‘I’m staying on _this_ ship.”  
  
“He did, didn’t he,” Ray said. “Obviously we’ll need teams covering different parts of the ship which means-”  
  
“One of us is going to get stuck in steerage,” Nate said. “Lena, you said Titanic is your favorite movie, wouldn’t you like to see what it was like below decks?”  
  
“Absolutely not. Do you?”  
  
“No!”  
  
“Well, we’re just going to have to decide the way we always do when we can’t come to an agreement,” Sara said.  
  
“Which is a lot more common than you might think,” Zari said. She took a step back. “I’m with Mick, I’ll stay on the Waverider.”  
  
“Then you get to hold the toothpicks,” Sara said. She closed the drawer she had been rummaging around in and handed a few to Zari.  
  
“This is how you decide? Drawing straws?” Kara asked.  
  
“We tried rock, paper scissors, but that got kind of nasty,” Zari said, snapping one of them in half before mixing them up and holding them between her thumb and index finger so that they all looked the same length.  
  
“And it took up valuable time that we could have spent actually fixing the timeline,” Ava said.  
  
“That too. Maybe if Mick didn’t keep insisting on a bunch of do-overs…”  
  
“Haircut threw too slow.”  
  
“Anyway… Newest Legend picks first,” Zari said, holding out her hand.  
  
Kara took a step forward and hesitated. She tilted her head to the right and then the left before choosing a toothpick in the middle and pulled it out to show she had picked a long one. She pretended to wipe her forehead and took a step back so that she was once again shoulder to shoulder with Lena.  
  
Ray was next to pick who drew one of the short straws but took it in stride, muttering about everything he might get to see below deck while they went looking for the aberration. Sara and Ava drew next and each revealed that neither had drawn one of the short straws which left only Nate and Lena.  
  
“You pick,” Nate said. He had one eye closed and was staring so hard at Zari’s hand that Lena was sure that he was trying to see through it.  
  
“Leaving it up to fate?” Lena asked. Nate made a noise that Lena assumed meant yes. She preferred being able to pick even if that meant picking the short straw. It was a fifty-fifty chance but she would be able to make peace with the outcome faster if she was the one taking the leap.  
  
“Pick the one on your left,” Kara whispered in her ear under the guise of giving her a peck on the cheek. “For luck,” she said in a louder voice and smiled brightly at her.  
  
Lena blushed ever so slightly at the small display of affection. Her hand hovered near Zari’s outstretched hand for a moment and she plucked the toothpick on the left, holding it out to Nate who stifled a groan.  
  
Ray patted him on the back consolingly. “We can still have fun while we look for the anachronism.”  
  
“It would be a hell of a lot more fun in first class.”  
  
“With that settled,” Sara said. “Ray and Nate you’ll be below, Ava and I will mingle, see if anybody else has noticed anything weird, and Mick and Zari, you two just hold down the fort and keep your eyes peeled for any icebergs.”  
  
“A time-displaced iceberg?” Zari asked, looking skeptical. “Wouldn’t that be more than a little on the nose.”  
  
“Even so. That leaves Lena and Kara. You two root around, see if you notice anything suspicious, and try not to act out any scenes from _Titanic_ .”  
  
“We’re totally going to do that if we get the chance though, right buddy?” Nate asked.  
  
“Oh, definitely,” Ray said.  
  
“Well, we already saw that coming. Gideon, plot a course for the North Atlantic Ocean,” Sara said.  
  


* * *

Lena normally couldn’t help but sneak glances at Kara every chance she got but as they entered the Cafe Parisien, she had purposefully looked elsewhere to stop herself from bursting out into a fit of laughter. Kara’s face kept shifting from one of serene indifference to discomfort with such regularity that Lena couldn’t help but think of a turn signal blinking on and off.  
  
There were a large number of wicker tables and chairs situated around the room and the walls were decorated tastefully in ivy-covered trellises. The polite drone of conversation was broken up by the sound of clinking china and the sound of cutlery.  
  
Kara grimaced, forcing another placid smile to her face as they sat down “I didn’t realize the fabricator was so-”  
  
“Authentic?” Lena offered. She nodded consolingly. “I don’t think it can be programmed for comfort.” It became a lot harder to romanticize the times when you were forced to wear era-appropriate clothing. Lena had specifically chosen to wear a tea gown for one reason and one reason only; no corset. Kara, on the other hand, had chosen a dinner dress that was a far more complicated affair getting in and out of.  
  
“Everybody might look nice but what does that matter if everyone is secretly uncomfortable,” Kara whispered.  
  
“You look more than nice,” Lena said. “You’re breathtaking.”  
  
“That’s so sweet and an incredibly apt compliment considering I can’t breathe. I would love nothing more than to lean over the table and hold your hand if I wasn’t wearing a corset.” Kara winced and sat up straighter in her seat, hoping that would alleviate some of the pressure. “How did people dress like this all the time?”  
  
“Not all that different from modern times. All to show off,” Lena said, speaking from experience. “Back in the day, women would change upwards of four times a day to show off different outfits.”  
  
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get out of this one,” Kara moaned.  
  
“They had personal attendants to help them in and out of everything and you have me.”  
  
“Oh.” Kara blushed and smiled shyly back at her. “Lucky me,” she whispered, taking a chance to look around the room. “Do you have any idea what kind of anachronism we might be looking for?”  
  
Lena shook her head. “I’ve stopped trying to guess. So far, there’s been a psychic gorilla, Helen of Troy, an alien, Paul Revere, and a Beebo...”  
  
“Beebo? The stuffed animal?”  
  
“There was a psychic gorilla on that list and Beebo is the one that piques your interest?” Lena teased.  
  
“I want to hear _everything_ .”  
  
“How much time do you have?”  
  
“For you? Forever.” Kara grinned and her eyes seemed to twinkle under the muted lights of the room. “Unless you had other plans…”  
  
Lena shook her head, glancing down at her hands that were folded neatly on top of the table and then back to meet Kara’s gaze. “Forever sounds just about right to me.” She pointed to the tiered buffet stand in the middle of the room. “I’m going to grab us some eclairs from over there and then we’re going to go find a quiet corner where you can tear that corset off and go above deck and get some fresh air.”  
  
Kara’s eyes crinkled and she leaned forward just a bit. “You want to go up there to do the Titanic pose with me, don't you?”  
  
“Preposterous,” Lena said. She had already stood up and looked back at Kara, her face inscrutable for a moment. “But if we just happened to find our way to the bow of the ship it really would be a shame _not_ to do it.”  
  
“Get me two eclairs and then you have a deal.”  
  
“For three will you let me paint you like a French girl?”  
  
“Make it four and we’ll see.”

* * *

  
  
Ray and Nate checked in sporadically throughout the afternoon with nothing much to report except for a list of grievances on Nate’s end that by Zari’s estimation would have been several pages long. Besides a space problem down below they hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary.  
  
Ava and Sara had spent the afternoon flitting from couple to couple, striking up a conversation while trying to wheedle any information they could out of the passengers aboard. Besides many of them justifiably worried about the safety of traveling by ship so soon after the Titanic disaster, none of them had any real cause for concern and the extra safety measures the Olympic had added to the ship seemed to most everyone’s mind at ease.  
  
“Maybe it really is an iceberg,” Lena muttered, careful to keep her voice low as to not unintentionally cause a panic. “We’ve been over almost every inch of this ship and we haven’t found anything out of place.”  
  
Kara did another pass over the ship using her X-ray vision and shook her head. “Nothing. Gideon, what time did the ship actually sink?”  
  
“The first distress call was made at six o'clock on the dot and scans of the historical record place the ship sinking anywhere within a two-hour window.”  
  
“That’s only ten minutes or so from now, whatever is going to happen is going to happen fast,” Lena said. “Zari, do you and Mick see anything, at all?”  
  
“Clear sailing as far as the eye can see. Not an iceberg in sight. Wait… Mick, did you see that?”  
  
“See what?” He sat up, brushing crumbs from his chest and looked where Zari was pointing. “Water. There’s a lot of it around.”  
  
“Not that, below it. Starboard side.”  
  
Kara was about to suggest crossing to the other side of the ship and taking a look when there was a bump from below that was strong enough to make the ship start trimming, rocking back and forth even though the waves had been up until that point rather placid.  
  
“What the hell was that?” Sara asked over the comms.  
  
“Thermal gas?” Ray suggested.  
  
“Oh my God. Gideon, take us up a little higher,” Zari said.  
  
“Much higher,” Mick growled.  
  
“Why, what did you see?” Kara asked. She gave Lena’s arm a tug and slipped passed a number of people milling about on the deck, some of them already haven written off the ship’s sudden rocking to a hazard of traveling by ship.  
  
“A huge fucking shark,” Mick growled.  
  
“I believe that the proper term, Mr. Rory, is Megalodon,” Gideon added.  
  
“Oh God, this is starting to sound like a movie Ava and I watched before,” Sarah said.  
  
“The one with the tornados?” Ava asked.  
  
There was another bump, this one strong enough for Kara to hear the whine of metal, and the hand wrapped around Lena’s waist tightened around her. “If it keeps up, the hull is going to be breached and then-”  
  
“Oceanside buffet,” Nate said. “And we’re the appetizer.”  
  
When Lena and Kara reached the starboard side, Kara leaned over the edge while Lena merely peeked over it. She had Kara’s arm in a death grip and immediately leaned back when she saw just how big a shadow moved underneath the boat. “That is a _big_ shark,” she agreed.  
  
“If I can get up to there, I could try shrinking it down to a more manageable size,” Ray said.  
  
“Not enough time,” Kara said, looking grimly over at Lena.  
  
The shadow shimmering beneath the boat began to grow larger and darken as it swam closer to the surface. There was the squeal of metal as the ship began to rock more violently and a passenger’s hat went rolling down the side of the deck and over the side.  
  
“I have to go down there,” Kara said, edging closer to the side and instinctively reaching down to her chest to change, remembering too late that what she was wearing would be far harder getting out of than what she normally wore. “I can go down there and subdue it somehow… Then we, what? Obviously not bring it back to the ship.”  
  
“I have an idea,” Lena said. “Ava, I need you to get over here.”  
“On my way.”  
  
“As much as I would love to watch my girlfriend punch out a giant shark, I have a better idea.”  
  
“Better make it quick…You called me your girlfriend,” Kara said and put her hand over her heart.  
  
“Be in love later,” Nate howled.  
  
“Wait for the thing to try and hit the ship again and then give the ship a little boost out of the way. It should breach the water at least a little bit and then Ava you can just time courier it back to where it’s supposed to be.”  
  
“And when is that exactly?”  
  
“Miocene Epoch,” Lena and Nate answered in unison.  
  
“It’s coming back around,” Kara said. She pecked Lena on the corner of the mouth and hopped over the side of the ship. Flying around behind it, she pressed her hands against the back of the boat. “Tell me when Lena and you guys might want to hold onto something.”  
  
Lena tiptoed to the very edge of the boat and gripped the ship’s railing as tightly as possible. Ava and Sara were a few feet down, Sara holding onto Ava’s waist as she too gripped the ship’s railing with one hand, already aiming her time courier as best she could.  
  
“It’s coming up again,” Lena said. “Get ready, Kara.” Lena watched the thing barreling towards the surface. The murky darkness no longer obscured it and the shape of its body took on a more defined look and she saw just how big the thing really was. She saw a glint underneath the water that she was certain was a reflection of one of the thing’s wickedly sharp teeth and shuddered. “Now!”  
  
The boat put on a burst of speed so sudden that there were crashing sounds from inside the ship as guests, luggage, cargo, and everything in between came dislodged. Lena had leaned so far over the side that she found her grip around the railing slip and she pitched over the side just as the giant shark breached enough to bring more than half of its body out of the water. It descended in a lazy arc and the Time Courier window opened beneath it swallowing it, offering a glimpse of an Earth far more green and lush than anything most had ever seen before it disappeared.  
  
Lena felt a scream building in her throat but before it had had time to even think about escaping, Kara had caught her. The sound of her dress flapping so strongly in the wind that it reminded Lena of a flag being blown about in a high wind. “Nice catch,” she said, looking up at Kara as she flew them back up towards the deck of the ship, touching down quickly, taking advantage of the confusion that lingered from Kara rocketing the ship forward.  
  
“Normally I would disagree but in this dress? I have to agree,” Kara said.  
  
“Not bad at all for your first Legends mission,” Sara said. “Ours didn’t go nearly as smoothly.”  
  
“We kind of have the reputation of making things worse,” Ray chimed in.  
  
“For the better,” Sara added. “But this was actually pretty smooth. I’m not going to go swimming in the ocean for the next decade but that opportunity doesn’t present itself all that often.”  
  
“Far better than Miss Luthor’s first mission,” Gideon remarked. “If you’d like the details, later on, I would be happy to provide them.”  
  
“ _I’ll_ tell you later,” Lena whispered, her cheeks so red it looked like they had come aflame. “Gideon’s memory of the events may be slightly biased.”  
  
“I would be far more concerned about your account being far more biased than mine, Miss Luthor.”  
  
“Before Lena and Gideon get into it again, I think that we should celebrate,” Sara said.  
  
“Pizza party?” Ray suggested.  
  


* * *

  
  
When they returned to the Waverider, Lena made a quick detour to the bridge to tinker with the program she was using to scan for her mother while Kara was intent on making a mad dash back to her quarters, keen to be out of her dress and into something more comfortable when Sara waved her over.  
  
“Need something, Sara?” she asked, floating over to her.  
  
“Nothing,” Sara said and shook her head. “I just wanted to tell you how much happier Lena seems now that you’re here. Thought I should take the chance and tell you now since you two have been joined at the hip since you boarded.”  
  
“Oh,” Kara said, looking quite pleased. “She does?”  
  
Sara nodded. “She hasn’t threatened to dismantle Gideon in nearly a week, that’s a record and I’ve never seen her smile more.” She smirked. “But I won’t hold you up any longer, go get changed, and then come down to the dining room.”  
  
“Be right back.” She rose a few inches up into the air and flew off in the direction of her room fast enough to make Sara’s hair flutter. It took her only a minute to change but instead of heading straight out, she walked to the small drawer next to her bed and pulled out her journal. Despite all that had happened since deciding to go with Lena, she hadn’t written a single entry. She grabbed a pen, wrote the date at the top of the page, and scribbled a one-sentence entry, leaving the pen wedged between the pages.  
  
_I’ve never been happier._ _  
_ _  
_

* * *

“The pizza isn’t nearly as good as that one place in the city,” Lena said, tossing her uneaten crust into one of the open pizza boxes. “The one with the really good breadsticks. What was it called?”  
  
“Brera Ristorante.” Kara nodded. “So good,” she said and closed her eyes. “Not that this isn’t good either, Gideon.”  
  
“If you like, I’d be happy to drop the both of you off there,” Gideon said.  
  
“Is that sarcasm?” Kara asked, legitimately unsure.  
  
“We think that Rip installed a sarcasm setting that is just constantly stuck in the on position.” Lena reached for another piece and shrugged. But the pizza here isn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination.”  
  
“Let’s hope the compliments she pays you, Kara, are far more kind.”  
  
“They are,” Kara said. She pointed at Lena’s cheek. “You have some sauce right there.”  
  
“Here?” Lena dabbed at her cheek.  
  
“Let me get it.” Kara turned around to grab a napkin off the table. She leaned forward to dab at the small spot on Lena’s cheek when she seemed to simply fade into nothing, the piece of pizza she had been holding fell to the ground at Kara’s feet.  
  
“Lena?!”  
  
“Lena disappeared,” Zari said. She hopped off the table she had been sitting on and stepped closer.  
  
“Gideon? What happened to Lena?” Kara asked.  
  
“According to public record, Miss Luthor died in 1997.”

  
“Kara, don't freak-”  
  
There was a loud crash as Kara crumpled to the floor.  
  
“-out.” Sara winced. “So close. Let’s get her to the medbay.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it :)


	12. You look familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends set out to stop Lillian before she can hurt Lena. While some of the team scour the city for any sign of Lillian, Kara and Lena stake out the inn where Lena knows her mother and her younger self will be staying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't originally intend to split up the chapter but it simply got too big. Expect a quicker update since most of the next is already written.
> 
> As for Lena's mother's name. It should be pronounced phonetically like 'Saive' which means Sweet and lovely.

The team was still arguing the best way to move Kara to the medbay when she came to. Her eyelids fluttered open and it took her a moment for reality to crash back over her like a cresting wave. Before she could sit up, she felt Sara’s arm on her shoulder.  
  
“Just breathe, Kara. I promise things aren’t as bad as you think they are. Lena _will_ be fine.”   
  
“But Gideon-”   
  
“Needs to learn some tact,” Sara interrupted. “But this kind of thing has happened before.”   
  


Kara took no solace in that fact but she did take a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself and stood up on sturdy enough legs. “I’m fine,” she said and raised a hand in a warding off gesture in Nate’s direction. “I’m _not,_ ” she clarified, “but I’m not going to pass out again.”   
  
“This happened to me once,” Ray said. “Gideon, do you still have a record of the timeline where I died?”   
  
“Certainly.” The anachronism map was replaced by several newspaper articles, most of them with a picture of a very young Ray Palmer featured prominently under headlines that were near carbon copies of one another.   
  
“There was a little hiccup in the timeline and we had to go back and save me. Young me.”   
  
“So that means we can save Lena.”   
  
“Absolutely,” Sara said. “We just need to figure out what happened and make sure it doesn’t. Gideon, you said that Lena died in 1997.”   
  
“Before I continue, Kara, are you sure you’ll be alright?”   
  
“Yes, Gideon, I’ll be okay. _Once Lena’s safe, I will be,_ she thought. The shock of seeing Lena disappear in front of her eyes was very quickly twisting itself into a worry that ached fiercely.   
  
“Both Miss Luthor and her mother were reported missing on July 7th, 1997. Their bodies were both recovered from a nearby lake a few days later.”   
  
“Obviously not the same woman we’re hunting down, right?” Nate asked.   
  
“No,” Kara said and there was an icy chill in her normally chipper voice. “But I’m sure she’s to blame.” She had taken hold of her chair's safety bars that came down when time traveling in an effort to steady herself and accidentally squeezed too tight, twisting the metal effortlessly, curling around the fist she made before she relinquished her grip so suddenly it looked as if she had been burned. "Sorry," she muttered.   
  
“Good thing you didn’t try holding her hand, Ray,” Zari whispered.   
  
“Kara’s right,” Nate said. “Not only are we getting a hit on the scanner that Lena set up but her aberration is off the charts weird. Even more foul play than usual and that’s saying something.”   
  
“What kind of mother goes back in time and tries to kill their daughter?” Zari asked, clearly disgusted at the idea.   
  
“You’ve never met Lillian,” Kara growled. "And she was never anything like a mother to Lena."  
  
“No, we've never had the pleasure of meeting her,” Sara said, “but we will. Everybody, buckle up. Gideon, take us to July 6th, 1997.”   
  
“Gladly.”   
  
Kara flopped down in her chair and felt a comforting hand on her shoulder as the Waverider began to pick up speed.   
  
“Temporal permanence needs time to set. Which means we have plenty of time to save Lena.”   
  
“The sooner the better, “Kara said. Her fretful expression softened somewhat and she mustered a very small smile that fell away almost at once. “Thank you, Ray.”   
  
There was the usual flash of light as the ship made the jump and Kara had no sooner allowed herself to settle uneasily into her chair when she rose out of it when she heard Lena’s heartbeat from behind her. She rushed forward and came to a sudden stop in front of Lena who had appeared just as suddenly as she disappeared, pizza sauce still on her cheek.   
  
“Kara? What are you?-” The next words were quite literally squeezed out of her when Kara wrapped her in a hug tight enough to make Lena groan.   
  
“Sorry! Sorry!” Kara let her go, holding her out by the shoulders and drew her into a hug, this one far more gentle. Cupping her cheek she kissed her gently and pressed her forehead against Lena’s.   
  
“Kara!” Lena’s cheeks were steadily growing redder, looking out the corner of her eye at everyone else on the bridge. Being discrete on the Waverider was an impossibility but the two hadn’t quite made the leap into public displays of affection. “Everyone is watching us.”   
  
“I don’t care.”   
  
“Neither do I,” Mick said.   
  
“What’s got into you, Kara?”   
  
“I love you,” Kara said. “So, so much.”   
  
“I love you too, Kara, but-” Her eyes fell upon the news article still displayed and then to the flashing alert from the scanner she had set up to track Lillian and put two and two together. “Lillian killed me.”   
  
“She did,” Nate said.   
  
“We’re in 1997, Ireland,” Sara said.   
  
“No,” Lena said. She looked closer at the article on display and her face fell. “How could she,” she muttered. She looked unsteady as if she had taken a hit that she hadn’t been at all ready for. She let out a mirthless chuckle. “Leave it to her to find a new low.”   
  
“You told us she was bad, I didn’t think she would try and kill you though,” Ava said.   
  
“I did,” Lena said, “but that’s not what bothers me.”   
  
“It’s not?” Nate asked.   
  


Lena exchanged a look with Kara, glad that she was still holding onto her tightly. She had spent five years with the Legends and while she had come out from behind the thick walls she had retreated behind after leaving her life behind in National City, sharing something of this magnitude was a different beast entirely. She could certainly give them an abridged version and none of them would push for more, not when they knew how difficult the topic was for her. She adored them all for that, which was the last little push she needed.   
  
“That day,” she said and pointed to the display of the newspaper clipping, “my mother did drown. She loved the outdoors. We used to go on day trips all over, no particular destination in mind, just spending the day together.” She closed her eyes and felt Kara’s arms wrap tighter around her. “We went on vacation that weekend. The lake wasn’t far from our house but we still stayed at an inn nearby. We were supposed to go home that Monday. We stopped by the lake to swim before heading home. It was her idea.” Lena smiled sadly. “Instead of catching the bus back, we stopped at the lake again. She was something of a free spirit, you see? It was cloudy out but it was still so hot. We went swimming and I got tired. She wasn’t ready to stop swimming though.” A watery smile appeared on her face for a quick instant and she looked down, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself before she could continue. “She took me back to the shore and told me to rest there and watch her.” She opened her mouth to continue and felt a lump in her throat that felt as it was growing larger every second. She tried to swallow it and felt her breath hitch. “I watched her for a while and then she went under and she didn’t come back up. I knew that something was wrong. I should have run to get help or tried to help her. I just sat there on the shore and did nothing.” She peeked out at them from behind Kara’s shoulder, expecting them to look shocked or maybe even disgusted at her confession and was surprised to see them all looking back at her with similar expressions of understanding on their face.   
  
“Lena, it wasn’t your fault,” Sara whispered.   
  
“You were just a kid,” Mick grunted.   
  
The rest of the team nodded in agreement and Lena used Kara’s shoulders to brush away a few tears that she had been unable to hold back. “Thank you,’ she said softly. “All of you. Especially you,” she whispered quietly so that only Kara could hear.   
  
Sara dabbed at the corner of her own eye under the guise of fixing her hair. “Okay,” she said, standing up from her Captain’s chair. “This mission is all hands on deck. We know who we’re looking for which is a plus but we’re not leaving anything to chance. Lena, you wouldn’t happen to remember where you were on the sixth, would you?”   
  
“Of course, I do. It rained almost all day so we stayed in town that day. We went window shopping and had dinner at a pub nearby.”   
  
Sara nodded. “That will make keeping an eye on you easier. Mick, you Nate and Ray scour the city for any sign of Lillian.”   
  
“And if we find her?” Mick asked and brandished his heat gun, not looking at Sara but at Lena.   
  
“Ask the Captain,” Lena said.   
  
Sara shook her head. “Your call this time, Lena. I think this mess would fall under extenuating circumstances, wouldn’t you, Ava?”   
  
“Are you as asking me as your girlfriend or as-”   
  
“Bureau pencil pusher,” Sara said and gave her a little bump with her hip. “Who I find charming and _very_ attractive.”   
  
“Well, The Bureau doesn’t exist anymore, for one, so what I would do as an agent is irrelevant but if I was, I would say that in order to keep the timeline intact, that more severe methods are sometimes needed. But as a Legend and more importantly, as Lena’s friend? I’d say do whatever you have to do to keep her safe.”   
  
“Don’t underestimate her,” Lena said. “She’s dangerous. Luthors are scorpions, she _will_ try and sting you. If you do find her, I’m sure she’ll be expecting you. If you can’t bring her in quietly?” She pursed her lips and met Kara’s eyes for a moment. “Let’s just say I won’t lose all that much sleep if you have to strongarm her.”   
  
“Good to know,” Mick said and holstered his heat gun.   
  
“Zari if you want to keep an eye on the pub while the rest of us check in at the inn and keep tabs on Lena and her mother.”

“Sorry, Mick,” Zari said and flashed him a grin.  
  
“I can drink after the mission,” he growled. “What?” he barked, looking around at the others who were all staring at him with the same gobsmacked expression on their face.   
  
“I just never saw you willingly give up the chance to drink, ever,” Nate said. “It’s sweet.”   
  
Mick grumbled but said nothing and crossed his arms over his chest, sitting back in his seat.   
  
“Will you be okay, Lena?” Kara asked.   
  
“Of course, I will. I hate the idea of Lillian anywhere near my mother. I’m going.”   
  
“We’ll all go,” Sara said. “Gideon, can you hold down the fort while we’re away?”   
  
“Certainly, Captain Lance. I’ll quite enjoy the peace and quiet.”   
  
“Don’t get used to it. We’ll be back soon.”   
  
“Miss Luthor?”   
  
“Yes, Gideon?”   
  
“Do be careful. I would hate to lose my verbal sparring partner.”   
  
“No chance of that, Gideon."   
  


* * *

  
  
Lena was so lost in thought as she got ready to disembark that she flinched when Ray placed a hand on her shoulder to say goodbye. She couldn’t quite force even a sheepish smile to her face but her eyes flicked down towards her feet in an apologetic way.   
  
“We’re heading out,” Ray said and pointed to himself, Nate and Mick.”   
  
“Be careful,” Lena said. “All of you.”   
  
“We will,” Ray assured her. “You too.” He slung his arm around Nate’s shoulder and tried to do the same to Mick who batted it away rather hard and put on a burst of speed to separate himself from the other two.   
  
Lena watched them go before turning her attention back to the blonde wig the fabricator had spit out. She took her time adjusting it, looking at herself in the mirror. The resemblance between her and her mother was still there but she knew that she was specifically looking for it. She doubted that her mother would be doing the same. Keeping her distance so that her mother could never notice the uncanny resemblance between the two would be best but she knew better than to try and hold herself to such a vow.   
  
She turned to Kara to get her opinion and saw her in deep conversation with Sara. She seemed to know that Lena was looking at her because she turned her head to look at her and smiled warmly. She held up her index finger to indicate she wouldn’t be very long.   
  
“And there’s no wiggle room?” Kara asked.   
  
“ _Sometimes,_ ” Sara said carefully and cast a quick look over at Lena. “But not for something like this. I wish there was, Kara, but changing the past, it’s beyond dangerous, no matter how much we want to... I’m sorry.”   
  
Kara shook her head. “Lena explained it to me briefly already, I just, I needed to be sure.”   
  
Sara nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. She took a scrunchie that she had put around her wrist and quickly tied her hair back into a messy ponytail. “We can keep Lena safe though and I promise we’ll do that. Ava and I will go on ahead, do what so many have suggested to us and get a room,” she joked. “We’ll see you there.”   
  
Kara gave Sara and Ava a small wave before returning to Lena’s side. “I like the hair.”   
  
“You know what they say about blondes and more fun,” she said listlessly and realized how she must have sounded a second later because she worked her mouth into a smile purely for Kara’s benefit. “Did I ever tell you that my mother and I look quite similar?”   
  
Kara shook her head and sat down next to Lena. No, you never told me that.”   
  
Lena smiled sadly. “You’ll see for yourself, I suppose, but the resemblance is rather striking and I’d rather not have to try and explain to her why a complete stranger looks so much like her. It seems flimsy cover stories are quite common for time travelers.”   
  
“Not any flimsier than telling you I flew in on a bus.”   
  
Lena smiled and rested her head against Kara’s shoulder. “No, not quite that flimsy, but I still bought it,” she reminded her and managed a small smile. “How do I look?” she asked. The fabricator had spit out a grey jumper and a pair of hip-huggers.   
  
“Like the girl of my dreams,” Kara said and kissed her on the cheek. She took Lena’s hand and wasn’t surprised when she felt Lena squeeze it tight. “Are you ready to go?”   
  
“No," she answered honestly. "But as ready as I’ll ever be.”   
  


* * *

  
The rain was already coming down in sheets when Kara and Lena stepped off the Waverider. Huddled under a large umbrella, Lena directed them down a cobblestone street already pockmarked with several large puddles. The camera around Lena’s neck bounced with each step and the two small pieces of luggage that Kara held in one hand banged against her leg as they ran. A strong gust of wind made the umbrella shudder in Lena’s hand and it turned inside out, one of the thin metal ribs to bend and then break just as they hopped over a large puddle and ducked under the awning of the inn.   
  
Kara fumbled for the door and pushed Lena inside before slipping in behind her. A strong gust of wind blew the door shut and rain began to lash even more fiercely against the windows.   
  
“You two picked a fine day to do some traveling.” A smiling red-haired woman said, ushering them inside. She had a kind face and her hair was done up almost as an afterthought. She gave Lena’s arm a firm tug. “A little water isn’t going to hurt these floors,” she said. “I take it you two came for lodging and not just to get out of the rain?” She snatched the broken umbrella out of Lena’s hand and tossed it towards the door.   
  
“Yes,” Lena said. “If you have any rooms available.”   
  
“Well that’s good, I was afraid I was going to have to throw you, two pretty lasses, out,” she teased. “We almost always have rooms. Maybe in August, we’re a bit full up but plenty to go around. Let’s get you checked in, but first, let me get you two towels.” She pointed to the small front desk by the stairs and swept out of the room before either of them could stop her.   
  
“Friendly,” Kara said.   
  
“Very,” Lena agreed. She gave Kara’s arm a gentle pull and walked closer to the desk. Both a combination of her trying to bury all the memories of her last trip with her mother and the passage of time had worn away much of the sharpness of the memories she still held, or at least she thought it had. Approaching the desk, she remembered being able to _just_ reach it. She hovered her finger over the bell and very nearly pressed down on it. “I couldn’t reach this when we came here,” Lena said in a small voice. “My mother always pushed it closer so that I could reach up and ring the bell.”   
  
Kara looked at her and smiled sadly. Before she could reply the woman came back with an armful of towels and offered the pile to them.   
  
“Fresh from the dryer,” she said and slid behind the desk. “I’ll have it running all day if the rain keeps up.”   
  
“We only need two,” Kara said and smiled at her appreciatively, drying her arms off and dabbing at the damp patches on her jeans.   
  
“Aye, but that mother and her little wean are going to need another armful of towels if they’re outside any longer.” She shook her head reproachfully but gave a little shrug. “How many nights will you be staying with us?” She cracked open a large logbook and flipped to the middle.   
  
“Just the one,” Lena said. She had draped the towel around her shoulders and she dug around in her pocket and extracted a few bills from a small clutch and slid them across the table.   
  
“Oh, that’s a shame you had to come when the weather is in such a state. I hope it clears up a bit so you can enjoy yourself before you have to go. You aren’t in a group, are you?”   
  
“I beg your pardon?” Kara asked.   
  
“Tour group.” The woman shook her head. “I just checked in a couple of American girls not twenty minutes ago. Small world,” she said and smiled brightly. She reached behind her and pulled a key off the wall and handed it to Lena. “Your room is just up the stairs and to the right. If you want to rest there you can or you could always come down here and watch the rain over there,” she said and pointed to a small sitting area. There were a few high back chairs flanking a comfortable looking couch and a table with a few books spread across it.   
  
“Thank you,” Lena said. “You’re too kind.”   
  
“It’s my job.” She smiled brightly. “I do hope you two enjoy your stay.”   
  
“Me too,” Lena said and took one of the bags from Kara and hefted it up onto her shoulder. 

As they were going up the stairs, Ava and Sara were coming down. They both looked miraculously dry and while Ava nodded at them they said nothing. Moving in smaller groups made them able to cover more ground and aroused less suspicion.   
  
When they passed by, Sara dropped to her knee to tighten her shoelaces and whispered loud enough for both of them to hear. “Got a peek at the logbook, no solo guests in weeks. Don’t think Lillian is here. Going to go check a few more places around here. Should have packed a raincoat.” Sara stood back up and descended the rest of the way down the stairs with Ava at her side.   
  
Quaint was the first word that came to mind when Kara opened the door to their room. The furnishings were simple but it appeared clean. There was a postage stamp-sized television in the upper corner of the room and a small bedside table separating two beds that couldn’t be much bigger than a twin. Not wanting to get the bed wet she stood by the window, looking outside, a crash of thunder sounded and shook the windows.   
  
“Is everyone OK?” Lena asked, opening up her comms.   
  
“Had to wave off a very persistent barfly that wanted to buy me a drink but I’m fine,” Zari said. “Settled in at the corner of the bar with a good view of the door. If Lillian comes in, I’ll be sure to spot her.”   
  
“Ava and I are checking out other inns around here to see if we can find any single lodgers,” Sara said.   
  
“I doubt that Lillian is out in this weather,” Ray said, his voice coming in faintly over the sound of the rain. “We’re taking refuge in a shop while we wait for the rain to let up. Is there any sign of, umm, _you,_ at the inn?”   
  
“No,” Lena said. “But we’ll keep an eye on things here. I remember what room we stayed in and we’ll wait downstairs for them if they’re out. I doubt Lillian would be out in this kind of weather. She might melt,” she muttered, which made Kara chuckle. “But all the same, be careful.” She snapped her comm off and got her first really good look at the room since entering. “I remember it being a little bigger.” She had a lopsided smile on her face that appeared to try and right itself and couldn’t quite do so.   
  
She turned her head left to right and got her bearings. “We’re in the room right near the stairs… I remember that the room my mother and I stayed in was at the end of the hall.” She pointed to their left and Kara squinted ever so slightly and shook her head.   
  
“Room’s empty. Maybe we can ask that woman where some of her other guests spend their time.”

* * *

  
As Kara and Lena descended the stairs the rain seemed to be letting up. The downpour had become a frantic patter that made a melodious sound as it hit the roof. The first floor appeared deserted. They approached the front desk and Lena had her hand poised over the service bell when she felt a tug on her arm. She looked down and her mouth opened almost comically large. There was another tug on her arm and Lena pushed the bell closer to the edge of the desk. Beaming, the young girl reached up and just _barely_ was able to ring it, which she did several times in quick succession.   
  
“I think she heard you, Lena.”   
  
Lena instinctively turned toward the sound of her own name, the hair on the back of her neck prickling up before turning quickly back around, her heart thudding frantically inside her chest.   
  
“Look at the state of both of you! Drenched to the bone.” The kind-faced woman tutted but appeared amused nonetheless even if she looked as if she didn’t want to admit it. “And you found the towels, good enough.”   
  
“Thank you for that. Lena wanted to splash around in the puddles and I just had to join her.” The woman beamed at her daughter and tousled her hair before pushing the bell just out of her reach.   
  
“It’ll be a decent-sized lake by tomorrow if it keeps up.”   
  
“As long as it’s deep enough to swim in. Doesn’t that sound fun, Lena?”   
  
Lena’s younger self looked up and smiled right back, nodding. "It does sound fun."  
  
Lena’s mother turned to both Kara and Lena, still smiling. “How did you know?”   
  
“S-sorry?” Lena asked.   
  
She pointed at the bell. “How did you know she wanted to ring the bell?”   
  
“Oh, just a hunch, I suppose.”   
  
“Well, it was a very good one. I’m Sive,” she said and stuck out her hand. “And this is my daughter, Lena. Say hello, Lena.”   
  
“Hello,” she said, sidestepping and hiding behind her mother and looking from Kara and then to Lena and back again.   
  
“I’m Kara.” She stuck a hand out to shake and smiled at Lena’s mother before dropping down so that she was eye-level with Lena’s younger self. “It’s very nice to meet you too.”   
  
Younger Lena retreated behind her mother so that only one eye was peering out at Kara. "Nice to meet you too," she mumbled.  
  
“So shy after all that jumping you did,” Sive said. She scooped her up in her arms and gave her a spin which coaxed a giggle out of her. “I didn’t catch your name,” she said and smiled at Lena.   
  
“Sam,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”   
  
“Well, it’s very nice to meet you too. Did you two get caught in the rain?”   
  
“They did,” the kind-faced woman said. “If you can get your wean to sit still for a time, I can light a fire.” She shivered. “Unseasonably cold today and with both of you soaking wet. You two as well,” she said and made shooing gestures with her hands in Kara and Lena’s direction. “Warm yourselves up a bit and I’ll bring something for you to nibble on.”   
  
“We’d love the company,” Sive said. “Unless you two had somewhere else you’d rather be?”   
  
“No,” Lena said, a hesitant smile slowly crossing her face like a sunrise. “We’d love to join you.”   
  


* * *

  
Before going to rest in the sitting area near the window, Lena excused herself and slipped back upstairs to their room. She couldn’t be sure or not but she was almost certain that Kara was keeping an eye on her. She _wasn’t_ fine, no matter how it might have looked on the outside but she would _be_ fine. She hoped. She splashed some cold water on her face and looked back at the stranger in the mirror. She could never forget her mother’s face but after the sheer number of years that had passed since then and the innumerable attempts to try and push that awful memory into the deep recesses of her mind had dulled the memory of her. The fine details had been lost until today and they had come flooding back in a rush when she had turned around and saw her mother standing close enough to her that she could have reached out and hugged her.   
  
She took a deep breath and tapped her commlink open again. “My mother came back to the hotel. Kara’s sitting with her and younger me _,_ right now.”   
  
“You know, a year ago I would have thought that sentence sounded so strange,” Zari said. “Any sign of Lillian?”   
  
“No, but Kara has her eyes peeled if there’s any sign…”   
  
“Sara and I are just up the street. If we see anybody suspicious we’ll intercept,” Ava said. “We’ll catch her.”   
  
“I know,” Lena said. Her shock at seeing her mother again was quickly replaced by anger that burned white-hot, her hand clenching into fists. “And then I’ll find a hole dark enough and deep enough that Lillian will never slither out of it again.”   
  
“We’ll find one, but we can do that later, until then,” Sara said, “spend some time with your mom.”   
  
“I will.” She cut the connection again and took a deep breath. She fussed unnecessarily with her wig and made her way out of the room and back downstairs. 

She paused halfway down the stairs and stared at the sight in front of her. It was something that could never be and yet it had, all the same. Her mother was laughing, leaning back with her feet up on the couch with her younger self sitting in her lap. Kara had evidently told her something extremely funny because she wiped at the corners of her eyes and nearly doubled over.   
  
Kara looked up and smiled at Lena, waving her over which was enough to snap her out of the spell she had found herself under. When she approached, her mother drew her legs up to make space on the couch. “Kara was just telling me about how you two met. Did she really write an unflattering article about you right after you met?”   
  
Lena sat down and found herself looking back at herself for a moment before her younger self hopped off their mother’s lap and plucked a scone off the plate on the table and ran off with it towards the window to watch the rain while she ate. “She _tried._ ”   
  
“I was getting to that part. My boss rejected it. She was worried that we might get sued for libel.”   
  
Sive tittered and looked at Lena, her head tilted at an inquisitive angle. “I know that Americans are known for being litigious but would you have really sued?”   
  
“If Kara didn’t pull any punches? I might have had to.”   
  
Lena's mother giggled and shrugged as if to say _if you have no other choice_. What is it that you do, Sam?”   
  
_Time traveler._ “I’ve actually stepped down but at the time I was CEO of a company.”   
  
“At your age? Amazing!”   
  
Lena couldn’t help but light up at the compliment. “It sounds more impressive than it really is.”   
  
“Nonsense,” her mother said and waved her hand out in front of her. “It sounds impressive because it is. You haven’t retired already, have you?”   
  
Lena chuckled and shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I retired. I’m just taking some time off to do some traveling with Kara.”   
  
“How lovely. Forgive me if I’m prying but I noticed a bit of an accent.”   
  
“I grew up here.” Lena’s cheeks went slightly pink. “Not _here_ exactly, but around. I moved to the States when I was rather young.”   
  
“And you found your way back. You sound like me.” She looked over at the younger version of Lena who had been creeping almost silently up to the plate of scones and intercepted her hand and kissed the back of it. “You’re going to spoil your dinner if you haven’t already.” She shook her head and grinned. “Lena and I came up for the weekend. Honestly, I had hoped for a little more sun but we’re making do. We _might_ just get some sun before we have to go back home. If we’re lucky.”She looked at her watch and then outside at the light drizzle. “I don’t think that kind woman would appreciate Lena and I using up any more of her towels than we already have. We were going to eat at a pub just down the street. If you two didn’t have any dinner plans you’d be welcome to join us. If you don’t mind our company, that is.”   
  
Lena exchanged a very quick look with Kara before answering. “We’d be more than happy to, but I would have to insist that we pay.”   
  
Lena’s mother made a face and shook her head. “Absolutely not. What kind of example would I be setting for my daughter if I did that? Besides, I have money.” Her carefree smile fell away for a brief moment before returning even brighter.   
  
“So does she,” Lena said and pointed at Kara.   
  
Kara’s face went cherry red and shook her head vehemently. “I do insist that you let us pay though. I am _very_ good at snatching up the check.”   
  
“We’ll just have to see then,” Lena’s mother said. She laughed and craned her neck to get a better look out the window. “If you give me just a minute to get her into some dry clothes,” she said and pointed at Lena’s younger self, “I’ll meet you back down here and I can show you where the pub is.”   
  
Kara nodded. “I think we’ll do the same.”   
  
“I’ll meet you two back down here then. Come on, Lena,” Sive said and scooped her up as she ran past. “Let’s find you something else to wear.” She heaved her up, spinning around once and coaxed a giggle out of her daughter before she bounded up the stairs two at a time. 

The moment that Lena had closed the door to their room, Lena’s composure faltered and she felt Kara immediately reach out and take her hand, sandwiching it between both of her own. She looked at Kara and let out a breath that she had been holding in one shuddering exhale. “I forgot how much I missed her.”   
  
Kara reached out and cupped Lena’s cheek gently. What could she say? No words came to her that sounded quite right and so she did the only thing she thought might help and wrapped Lena in an embrace. She could hear Lena’s frantic heartbeat begin to slow and return to that calm almost melodious beat that she had grown used to listening to when they fell asleep together on the Waverider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!


	13. You're my home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara spend the evening with her mother while Sara and Ava close in on Lillian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one kind of hurt

Lena couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was dreaming. All throughout dinner, she half-expected to be shaken awake and find herself back on the Waverider. Here she was having dinner with her mother, her girlfriend and a miniature version of herself who had at several points during the evening got up from her chair and hung off her arm and waited for Lena to lift her up so that she could hang there, grin brightly at their mother and drop down and return to her seat as if nothing had happened.    
  
It might have been the heavy rains or the sheer sleepiness of the town that they were in but the pub was nearly empty, save for Zari and a barfly that looked as essential a part of the pub as the bar itself which only added to the almost ethereal ambiance that the evening seemed charged with.    
  
According to both Kara and her mother, the food was excellent. Lena agreed but had no idea if it were true or not. She was too focused on hanging on her mother’s every word, trying to savor each moment that she had together while trying not to let herself dwell on breaking the one cardinal rule of time travel. She could not change the past, no matter how much she might want to, not without endangering everything and everyone she cared about.    
  
The sound of Kara laughing was pleasant enough to pull Lena from that same cycle of thoughts that had grabbed hold of her like quicksand. She turned her head and saw Kara pointing towards a jukebox in the corner as she rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a handful of coins.    
  
“I think your daughter is itching to play some music,” Kara said.   
  
“Is she? I don’t know how you could tell,” she joked. “She’s being so very discreet about her intentions.”   
  
Lena turned her head and saw her younger self staring intently at the jukebox, her gaze darting away unconvincingly at the last moment.    
  
“I could help her pick something out,” Kara suggested.   
  
. “What do you say, Lena? Want to pick something we can dance to?”   
  
“Yeah, I do,” she said, nodding to herself. She hopped off the stool and teetered clumsily but righted herself and offered her hand to Kara who took it and walked over to where the jukebox was, leaving Lena alone with her mother.   
  
Lena’s mother watched them go with a smile on her face and turned her attention to Lena. She opened her mouth to speak, paused for a moment, and scooted her chair closer to the table. “You don’t have much of an appetite?” she asked and gestured down to Lena’s plate which she had spent the better part of half an hour picking at. “Or do you not like greasy pub food?” she joked.    
  
Lena grinned and shook her head. “I like greasy pub food just fine, I must not have much of an appetite.”    
  
“Can’t say the same thing about, Kara.” She jerked a thumb in Kara’s direction and smiled. “The appetite on her. Maybe you two  _ should  _ pay.” Her eyes crinkled when she smiled and Lena saw so much of herself in her mother that it was like looking in a mirror. “You two,” she said and pointed in Kara’s direction, “do you travel a lot together?”    
  
Lena smiled and shook her head. “No. This is a first for us.  _ Time-traveling.  _ “Taking a trip together.”    
  
“But there is an 'us', then?” she asked, tilting her head at a slight angle to look at Lena.  
  
Lena glanced over at Kara before answering, afraid to tell her mother the truth and even more afraid to try and lie. “Yes, there is an 'us'. We’re... dating.” She braced herself for her mother’s bright expression to dull or for her smile to twist itself into a sneer of condemnation and felt relief wash over her when her mother’s smile only widened and she reached out to give her hand an encouraging squeeze.    
  
“I thought so.” She looked somewhat wistful and gave her head a small shake. “It’s a very special thing, being in love. Have you two been dating long?”   
  
“Yes, it is,” Lena said in a very small voice. “And, no… I- I’ve been away. We had something of a falling out,” she said, pushing around a bit of fried potato along the outside of her plate.    
  
“But you two are together now, and you both look happy. Are you happy?”   
  
Lena nodded shyly. “I am. I’ve never been happier.” She blinked rapidly to try and stop herself from crying, quickly dabbing at her eyes with a napkin.    
  
“I didn’t mean to pry,” Sive said, grabbing another napkin and holding it out to her.    
  
“No,” Lena said and took the napkin. “You’re not prying. I-”  _ I’m just so happy you asked me that question…  _ “I just don’t want to mess things up this time. I have a funny way of doing that."   
  
Lena’s mother nodded sagely. “Second chances can be a rare thing, but you two seem to be making the most of it. After this, where do you two plan on heading? More traveling the world or back home?”   
  
Lena smiled. “I’ve been doing nothing but traveling for quite a while now. I don’t know if I still have a home to go back to.”    
  
“Mmm. When I came back here with Lena, I thought the same thing. Nothing and nobody is meant to stand still. I thought that it would take me some time to make a home for Lena and me. Get my bearings and get used to this fecking awful weather.” She giggled. “But it didn’t take any time at all.” She glanced over at Kara and Lena’s younger self. “She’s my home. Wherever we go that will never change. Food for thought,” she said warmly when she spied Kara returning with Lena in tow.    
  
It took Lena’s mother only a moment to recognize the song. “The Fields of Athenry?” Sive cocked an eyebrow at Lena, trying very hard not to laugh. “Not exactly a song that gets you off your feet. You didn’t pick this, did you?”   
  
Lena’s younger self shook her head and pointed at Kara. “She did.”   
  
“I didn't pick it, I hit the wrong button," Kara said sheepishly.   
  
“Two wrong buttons,” Lena whispered to her mother at a volume that made it very easy for everyone to hear.    
  
“Two wrong buttons,” Kara amended.    
  
Sive giggled. “Well, not the most danceable song but it also won’t get that fella up out of his seat,” she whispered, looking surreptitiously at the barfly who appeared to be nursing a glass of whiskey in a way to make it last most of the night. “The pub does many things well but dessert is not among them. If you were feeling peckish we could go back to the inn. I’m sure the owner has something to nibble on.” She laughed. “If you don’t want to, that’s perfectly fine. You two come for a holiday and spend half the day with me and Lena.”   
  
“We want to,” Kara assured her. “And I  could  _always_ go for dessert.”   
  
“After all that?” Sive asked, looking impressed. “Let me just grab the bill…” She reached for it where it had been on the table and paused. “Where did-”   
  
“Too late,” Kara said. She had it clutched in her hand and gave it a small wave like a starter’s flag. “I told you I was fast.”    
  
“Cheater,” she teased. “I’ll just have to get it next time.”   
  
Lena’s smile faltered, looking not at her mother but her younger self. Timetravel was like walking a tightrope. Trying to go any way but forward was so dangerous and anything that Lena might do or say to try and offer her younger self a modicum of comfort might do enough to change everything.    
  
“Are you OK?” Kara whispered as she stood up from her seat.    
  
Lena almost said yes and even opened her mouth to say so but gave a quick shake of her head and looked at her apologetically. “I’m trying to be,” she said, watching her mother chase her younger self around a table before picking her up and swinging her up onto her shoulder. “I’m trying.”   


* * *

  
  
On the way back to the inn, Kara split her attention between the conversation between Lena and her mother, jumping in and out like double dutch while still keeping an eye out for any sign of Lillian. Listening to the drone of dozens of other conversations going on around them was difficult but a skill she had honed throughout her time here on Earth. It could be overwhelming and with her on high alert, that sickening feeling of panic settling in and a sharp stabbing pain beginning to take root around her temples that throbbed in rhythm with her heartbeat. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt since she was a teenager and still coming into her powers. It was a small price to pay however and one she would gladly pay a thousand times over for Lena’s sake.    
  
The kind-faced owner at the inn had been more than happy to rummage about in the kitchen for something that they could nosh on. She came back with a tray laden down with a variety of pastries and cookies that she set down on the small table in the sitting area before excusing herself, asking them very politely to try and be quiet for the other guests sake which they all promised they would.    
  
Kara settled herself in the chair closest to the door. The small smile on her face had faded slightly as her thoughts turned to Lillian. Seeing the other three on the couch however got her smiling again. She had seen and done many fantastic things but it was a strange sight seeing Lena on one side of the sofa, her mother in the middle and her younger self on the other end, closest to the coffee table.    
  
She watched Lena’s mother inspect the tray intently, her hand moving left and right over it, unsure before finally plucking a scone from the tray, holding it in one hand and tore a small piece off and popped it into her mouth. “Anywhere else you’d like to visit, Kara?” she asked. “Maybe somewhere with a bit more sun?”    
  
“A  _ little  _ more sun wouldn’t be so bad.” She glanced outside, amazed to see that it had once again begun to drizzle. Not anything close to the deluge earlier but it appeared that the Irish weather was not quite ready to give up the ghost. “But I’d be up for anything. Any suggestions?”   
  
Sive laughed. “I don’t know if I’d be the right person to ask.” Again her bright smile seemed to diminish for an instant before coming back brighter and more radiant. “I think the person you travel with is far more important than the destination.  _ “But,  _ I did always want to go to Hawaii. Too cliche?”   
  
“Maybe a little,” Kara said. “But cliche is good.” She laughed and glanced over at Lena. “Hawaii?”   
  
“If you’re paying,” Lena teased. “I really have no choice.”   
  
“No, you don’t.”   
  
“Kara? Am I interrupting?” Sara’s voice came crackling over the commlink in her ear. “I didn’t want to put a damper on the evening if you were still with Lena’s mother. Ava and I have eyes on Lillian…”   
  
“I’ll be right back,” Kara said. She stood up and pointed upstairs. “Just be a minute.”   
  
“Take your time,” Sive said.    
  
Kara slipped upstairs and only then did she open up her comm. “Where are you, Sara?”    
  
“Another inn. About a ten minute walk north. Big red door. We can take her, I just wanted to give you a heads up that we did find her.”   
  
“No,” Kara said. “Just wait.”   
  
“Wait? Wait for what, Kara? She wants us to wait,” Sara said, looking at Ava. The alley they were in gave them an unobstructed view of the street but the smell left much to be desired. “I don’t-”    
  
“Hi,” Kara said appearing very suddenly in the alley behind them.    
  
Ava jumped, her hand flying to her chest and backed up into the dumpster, banging her shin painfully on a piece of metal jutting out. Sara, on the other hand, had grown so used to silent entrances as well as exits that she was barely phased at Kara’s very sudden appearance.  
  
“She could give you a run for your money in the sneaking department, Babe,” Ava muttered.    
  
“Sorry,” Kara said quickly. “She’s in there?”    
  
“First floor. Not sure which room,” Sara said. “Thought it best if we keep our distance. Didn’t want to spook her.”   
  
“First room on the left,” Kara said, her gaze fixed on the inn. “I see her.” She looked at Sara. “Tell the others they can go back to the Waverider. There’s a cell on the ship, right?”   
  
“Yeah. Ray and Lena’s lab has a containment barrier generator. She’ll keep in there until we figure out what to do with her.”    
  
“Are we doing this?” Ava asked.    
  
“I am,” Kara said. “Go back to the inn. Make sure Lena is safe.”    
  
“Kara,” Sara said, reaching out to put her hand on Kara’s shoulder, feeling the wind on her face and finding the alley empty again, save for a few food wrappers that blew around in a miniature cyclone in Kara’s wake.    
  
“Should we go after her?” Ava asked.    
  
“We should go back to the inn, keep eyes on Lena until Kara has Lillian locked up.”   
  
“Do you think she’s really going to take her back to the ship?” Ava mused.   
  
Sara glanced left and right before stepping out of the alley, her arm slipping comfortably around Ava’s waist. As they walked back in the direction of the inn, Sara remained silent, unable to answer Ava’s question which she supposed was answer enough.   


* * *

  
  
Kara could have flown Lillian back to the Waverider before she even had a chance to realize what was happening. It was what she should have done. She could deposit her there and return to Lena’s side and try to savor every last happy moment they could get out of the evening as they could. That option was still very much on the table ,at least until Kara slipped into Lillian's room and locked eyes with her. Anger flared in her so bright and so hot that her eyes flashed red for an instant. She was at Lillian’s side in an instant and had swept her from the room before she had even opened her mouth. She could hear the vaguest of threats over the sound of the wind as they flew which only made her fly faster to drown out the sound.    
  
Flying far from the city, she set her eyes on a mountain in the distance and began to fly higher so that she was level with the peak. The urge to drop Lillian a bit further away from the ground was tempting but Kara nevertheless deposited her on solid ground just high enough up for her to stumble a bit.    
  
“Did you really have to take me all the way out here?” She looked more inconvenienced than scared and if Kara weren’t so angry she might have been impressed. She walked closer to the edge of the mountain and peered down before backing up.    
  
“There’s a cell back on the ship waiting for you.”   
  
“Of course, there is.” Lillian sneered. “Then why bring me all the way out here? To lecture me?” Her expression remained the definition of inconvenienced but she couldn’t stop herself from shivering, trying her best to shelter herself both from the cold drizzle and bitter winds at the peak. “I think I’ve had my fill of morality lessons from-”   
  
“I brought you out here because I haven’t decided what to do with you yet.” She had her back turned to Lillian, looking out at the minuscule pinpricks of light that were the small town she had just flown from. She was certain if she had turned around, Lillian’s expression would remain one of infuriating calm but she could do little to hide her heart. She listened to the rhythm begin to beat faster and felt a grim sense of satisfaction knowing that her threat had hit home.    
  
“Is that a threat Supergirl?”   
  
“You were going to try and kill Lena and you picked the day her mother died...” Kara inhaled sharply, trying to steady herself.    
  
“And why not?” Lillian asked, anger seeping into her voice. “I’ve always been a pragmatist. Two birds with one-”   
  
Kara whipped around. Her eyes glowed red as she marched towards Lillian. Her hands were clenched into fists so tight that she could feel her nails digging painfully into her palms. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. All you’ve ever given Lena her entire life is pain. When all she wanted was to feel protected, to feel loved." She stood there, staring at Lillian for a moment until reason slowly ebbed away at her anger and the red glow slowly faded from her eyes. “You’re despicable.”   
  
Lillian’s facade had cracked slightly. The expression of cold indifference had slipped and it took her a moment to recover. It was the cold realization that the precipice she had always walked so confidently to the edge of was more dangerous than she had ever realized. Supergirl might have been incredibly poor at intimidation but it made her honest efforts now, all the more frightening. “And what have you given her Supergirl?” She smirked. “Whatever pain I may have inflicted on her is nothing to what you’ve done to her.”    
  
“No,” Kara agreed. “It’s not. And I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it right. Protecting her from people like you.”    
  
“And will you kill to do that? I won’t beg for my life, Supergirl. If you’re going to kill me then go ahead and get it over with. Prove once and for all that Lex was right about you and your kind.”   
  
“I would do anything I needed to do to protect Lena. But no, Lillian, I won’t kill you. I won't let you or Lex haunt Lena anymore than you already do.”   
  
“And who’s fault is that?”    
  
“Mine,” Kara said and stepped closer to Lillian. The sound of shifting rocks underfoot cut through the stillness of the night air as she did. “Lena killed Lex to protect all of us, to protect me. If I had been honest with her from the beginning, she would have never needed to make such a decision. I can’t fix that mistake, but that doesn’t mean I need to make another one.” She reached out and clamped her hand over Lillian’s arm. Without saying another word she pulled the device that she had blackmailed Lena for and waggled it in front of her face having already lifted it off of her, before launching both of them into the air.    
  


* * *

  
  
Kara had no idea just how long she had been gone but knew that she was once again pushing the meaning of the phrase ‘be right back’. Lena might understand but she would have preferred not to make such a flaky impression on Lena’s mother of all people. Marching Lillian through the Waverider, she ran into just the person she was looking for.   
  
“So you found her.” He grimaced. “I bet Zari a hundred dollars that you were going to kill her.”    
  
_ The thought crossed my mind,  _ Kara thought. “I’m taking her down to the lab. You mind walking with me?” She could see that the answer on his face was a resounding ‘yes’ but he did still follow along with her as she walked. “How do you work the containment barrier?” she asked, relinquishing the hold on Lillian’s arm and pointing towards the strange looking platform.   
  
“The what?”   
  
“That,” she said, pointing to the area where Lillian was standing with her arms crossed over her chest.    
  
“Oh, that. The future jail cell.” Mick walked to the console and pressed a few buttons, the barrier swimming into view and forming a bubble around Lillian.    
  
“Is that thing soundproof?” Kara asked.    
  
“No.”   
  
“Pity. I checked her for any weapons or anything else. I doubt she’ll be able to escape, but if she tries. Mick, show her your heat gun.”    
  
“With pleasure.” He pulled it from his holster, pointed it haphazardly and fired out a jet of flames before putting it away.    
  
“If she tries to escape...”   
  
“I get the picture, Supergirl,” Lillian said, glaring out at both of them.    
  
“I walked around in the rain all day, you don’t expect me to watch her all night, do you? Because if you do-”   
  
“Here,” Kara said. She disappeared and reappeared with a case of beer that she pushed into his arms.   
  
“That’s a start,” he said, sitting down on one of the stools. He cleared his throat. “Keep an eye on the Princess,” he said.   
  
“I will,” Kara said. “Thanks, Mick.” She rose a few inches off the ground and sped off again. She didn’t dare look at her watch, focusing only on getting back to the inn before it was too much later. She turned her comm back on, speaking into it loud enough to be heard over the wind.    
  
“Gideon?”   
  
“Yes, Kara.”   
  
“I need you to check the historical record again. July 7th. Is Lena alive?”   
  
“Yes,” Gideon said. “It appears that you imprisoning Lillian Luthor has corrected the change to the timeline.”   
  
“Thank Rao.” Kara felt that heavy weight that had settled on her chest the instant Lena had disappeared from view begin to lift. “ I’m going back, Gideon.” She flipped her comm back off and put on another burst of speed.   
  


* * *

  
  
“I think it’s past her bedtime.” Lena’s mother smiled and looked adoringly at Lena’s younger self who was curled up at the end of the couch. “I’ll go lay her down. I’ll be right back.” She stood up quietly, bent down over Lena, and scooped her up as gently as she could. She held her there for a moment before  _ slowly  _ walking up the stairs.    
  
Lena sat there with her hands folded in her lap. Being left alone made her recognize Kara’s absence all the more. She was rather used to these kinds of situations when it involved Kara but she couldn’t help but worry. She had nearly turned on her comm to ask her where she had gone when Kara came hurrying down the stairs, hovering over the last few and jogging over to Lena.   
  
“Where have you been? Are you alright? When Sara and Ava came back, I thought something might be wrong.”   
  
“I’m fine,” Kara said apologetically. “We found Lillian. She’s not going anywhere.”   
  
Lena nodded stiffly. Her expression darkened and a tear slid down her cheek that she brushed away. “Good.”    
  
“I was just about to ask Sam if she wanted to go and check on you,” Lena’s mother said. She took the stairs down two at a time and returned to her spot on the couch. “She’s out like a light,” she said. “A few more years and she’ll be running circles around me." She pretended to shudder at the idea. "You two don’t have any plans, do you?”   
  
“Plans?” Kara asked.   
  
“A family.”   
  
Kara’s eyes widened and she exchanged a quick look with Lena. “I… We…” She laughed nervously. “I…”   
  
“ _ Now,  _ I am prying.” Sive fixed Kara with an almost pitying look and caught Lena’s eye. “I’m sorry. You’re going to think everyone in Ireland is a busybody.”   
  
“No. Not prying,” she assured her. She glanced over at Kara for a moment before she answered. “I’m not sure,” Lena said carefully. “I never imagined myself settling down before. But the way my life has gone… Very little has gone the way I thought it would.” She chuckled. “I doubt that I would be anything resembling a good mother…”   
  
“That’s not true,” Kara said quickly. “You’d be a wonderful mother.”   
  
“Kara…” Lena blushed and shook her head.    
  
“I’m with Kara on this one. I think you’d make an excellent mother. My opinion might not mean much seeing as we just met,” she said, catching Lena's eye and smiling at her.   
  
_ It means a lot,  _ Lena thought. 

“But the people who love us often know us far better than we know ourselves. Children  can  be a handful,” she warned. “But I couldn’t imagine my life without Lena.”    
  
“Maybe... Maybe?” Lena asked Kara, her cheeks very rapidly turning crimson.    
  
“Definitely, maybe.” Kara smiled and gave Lena a shy nod.    


* * *

  
  
Lena was almost certain that the clock on the wall was broken. As their conversation continued on into the night, she couldn’t stop herself from glancing at it from time to time. She was no stranger to time anomalies but she had never experienced time moving as strangely as it was now. Large dollops of time seemed to simply vanish over the course of what felt like a few minutes and while it felt like they had only just sat down, the next time she looked up at the clock it was very nearly four in the morning.   
  
Sive had gone from sitting straight-backed against the couch to leaning against the side with her feet up on the coffee table and finally lounging against the side like a cat might. Her head had bobbed a few times but after a brief lull in conversation she had slumped over and sat back up looking embarrassed.    
  
“I can’t keep my eyes open,” She sat up straighter and covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she yawned. “I should probably get to bed.”   
  
“You should,” Kara said. “It’s already so late.”    
  
Sive nodded. “It is. I haven’t stayed up this late in ages. I’m on Lena-time which means I need to be up early every day. That girl never runs out of energy.” She shook her head and smiled. She went to stand but hesitated. “Why don’t I want to go to bed?” She chuckled and shook her head as if attempting to rid herself of the question entirely.    
  
“We should probably get to bed too,” Lena said.  _ Before I endanger everything and everybody and try to change the timeline…  _   
  
Sive nodded. “You two lead the way.” She yawned again, this time not bothering trying to cover it up with her hand, looking curiously at Lena.   
  
As they climbed the stairs, Lena couldn’t stop herself from turning back once or twice to look at her mother who appeared to be either deep in thought or incredibly tired.   
  
“This is us,” Kara said, coming to a stop in front of their room. The warm smile on her face wavered. “Thank you for a wonderful day, Sive.”    
  
“The pleasure was all mine, Kara.” She smiled. “And it’s not often that people usually mean that.”    
  
“I wish we could have talked more,” Lena said, wishing that she could tell her mother just how much she meant those words.  _ There’s so much more I want to tell you.  _   
  
“Me too.”   
  
Kara slid the key into the lock and pushed the door open, lingering there in the doorway, still holding tight onto Lena’s hand. “Good night then.”   
  
“Good night you two.” She turned to go, walked a few steps, and turned around suddenly. “Sam? Could I talk to you for just a moment?”   
  
“Uhh… Of course.” Lena looked at Kara and felt her hand pull away from hers.    
  
“I’ll be right here,” Kara murmured. She hesitated for a moment and kissed Lena on the cheek, stepping inside and waving to Lena’s mother before closing the door behind her.    
  
“Could we talk downstairs?” I would hate to bother any of the other guests by talking right outside their door.”   
  
“Of course.” Lena gestured back towards the staircase, trying to ignore how loudly her heart seemed to be beating as she descended the stairs, side by side with her mother.   
  
“What is it?” Lena asked when they had reached the bottom, wondering what she could possibly want.    
  
“I…” She shook her head, almost looked as if she wanted to turn around again and walk back upstairs. “It’s crazy.  _ I’m not,”  _ she insisted, “although… Maybe I am…”   
  
“I don’t quite follow you…”   
  
“Maybe I did stay up too late,” she said. “Or maybe I caught a fever jumping around in the rain because I can’t shake the feeling that you look familiar.”    
  
“Oh. I did tell you that I grew up here,” Lena babbled. “It could be a family member or distant relative that you-”   
  
“But it’s not just that. I feel like I really know you.” Her upper lip trembled slightly and she reached out and took Lena’s hand in her own, squeezing it firmly.   
  
“No,” Lena said, maybe a bit more harshly than she had intended. “I would have remembered somebody like you. You’d be very hard to forget…”She forced an overly cheery smile to her face that she felt fall away almost at once.   
  
“And you,” Sive said. “I could never forget you either. How could I ever forget you…” She shook her head and let out another nervous bout of laughter. “Lena?”   
  
“No,” she said, blinking back tears and taking a step back.   
  
“Why are you here?” She chuckled, tears streaming silently down her face. “ _ How  _ are you here?” Her eyes flicked up towards the room where she knew that her daughter was sleeping and then back to Lena.    
  
Lena choked back a sob. “I can’t-”   
  
“It doesn’t matter,” she said quickly. “It doesn’t matter at all.” She made a shushing gesture and took a step back to get a better look at her. “Can I… Can I hug you?”   
  
Lena nodded, tears spilling out and down her cheeks. It felt pointless to try and continue to lie, especially when she couldn’t stop herself from crying. She took a step back, reached up, and shook her head free of the wig.    
  
Her mother marveled at her for a moment. She clapped a hand over her mouth and then let it fall away before she pulled Lena into a tight hug.    
  
“There’s so much I want to tell you,” Lena said. Her shoulders quivered and she wrapped both of her arms tight around her mother’s back, her head resting against her shoulder. “But I can’t…”   
  
“Then don’t,” Sive said as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. “You  _ are  _ happy though, aren't you?"   
  
Lena nodded against her mother’s shoulder.  "I am."  
  
“That’s all that matters to me.” She leaned close and pressed a kiss against Lena’s temple. “I love you so much, Lena. So, so much.”    
  
“I love you too.”  _ I’ve missed you so much... _   
  
“Mom?”    
  
Lena’s younger self stood at the top of the stairs. She still appeared to be half asleep and went down one step and lingered there on the staircase.    
  
“Lena.” Sive pawed at her eyes, the watery smile on her face widening and reluctantly broke the hug. “What are you doing up?”   
  
“I can’t sleep.”    
  
“Can’t sleep?” she repeated. “Come here,” she said and stepped to the foot of the stairs and held her arms out.    
  
Lena watched this, aware of just how puffy her eyes must be from crying, taking a step back as if she were intruding on something private.    
  
“You’re getting heavy,” Sive said and gave her a very small dip that nevertheless coaxed a giggle out of Lena. “Let’s get you to bed then.” She took a step back and turned back to Lena. “Today was a wonderful gift,” she said.   


  
“Yes,” Lena agreed. “It was.”   
  
Sive nodded, and after some waffling began to walk back up the stairs.   
  
Lena watched them go, locking eyes with the younger version of herself. She looked away but before she did she gave her younger self a small wave that she returned with a small wave of her own.    
  


* * *

  
  
There had been very little night left by the time that Lena had come back upstairs. Kara had pushed the beds together, the small table that separated them, pushed against the wall. But what little remained they had spent together curled up in bed. And when Sara knocked gently on their door a little after eight in the morning, Kara made no attempt to actually get out of bed, merely letting her know that she could come in.    
  
When the door swung open and Sara and Ava came shuffling in, both of them looked first at Lena who was sitting up with her knees tucked up to her chest and then to Kara sitting behind her, wrapping Lena in a tight embrace and her head resting on her shoulder.    
  
Kara felt Lena shift against her and held her tighter for it. “Hi,” she said in a quiet voice.    
  
“Hi,” Sara said, her usually chipper voice devoid of all its usual energy. “Ava and I just checked with Gideon, everything is back as it should be. They’re checking out right now… We’re going to tail them, make sure that Lena’s found and that she’s not alone…”   
  
Kara nodded. “We’ll go back to the Waverider after you’ve left.”   
  
“Are you sure you don’t want to say goodbye?” Ava asked.   
  
“No,” Lena said in an incredibly hoarse voice. “I can’t.”    
  
Ava remained silent and exchanged a somber look with Kara, looking very much like she wanted to say something but not sure of what to say. Kara knew exactly how she felt.    
  


* * *

  
  
“Checking out?” The kind-faced woman asked.   
  
“Yeah,” Kara said. “Checking out.”   
  
“That’s almost everybody, and all in one day.” She looked somewhat downtrodden at this and took the key from Kara, hanging it back on the small hook behind her. “I hope you two at least enjoyed your stay.”   
  
“Very much,” Kara said and looked out the window where Lena was standing with her hands jammed into her pockets, staring off into the distance. “Thank you for having us.”   
  
“Anytime,” she said with a smile. The woman’s brow furrowed and she smacked herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand. “I almost forgot!” She turned around again and snatched up what looked like an elephant-shaped paperweight off a stack of papers and grabbed two envelopes off the top. “These are for you,” she said.” She handed them to Kara. “And your friend.”   
  
“What are they?” Kara asked, taking them and seeing that one of them had her name scrawled across the top in flowery, loopy script and the other had Lena’s name written across the front.   
  
“I’m not sure, if I had to guess, probably thank you letters? That woman left them for you,” she said. “I would have never forgiven myself if I had forgotten.” She smiled again. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Ireland.”    
  
“Thank you,” Kara said, clearly distracted. She looked up and flashed the woman a very bright smile. “We will.”

Thankful they had been blessed with what only looked to be a very cloudy day and Kara didn’t have to worry about shielding the two envelopes from the rain. She gave Lena’s arm a gentle shake when she approached. The two hadn’t slept at all and while Kara was tired, Lena looked dead on her feet. The cocktail of grief, worry and guilt had done a number on her and while Lena did hold out her hand to grab hold of Kara’s, her steps were clumsy shuffled ones that would have been dangerous without Kara to keep her from falling and when Kara found a secluded spot, she picked Lena up in a bridal carry that she offered no objection to, flying them back to the Waverider. 

It was amazing how quickly that the ship had begun to feel like a second home to Kara. She liked everyone aboard and even her room, but it was Lena that made her feel like she had always belonged.  _ She  _ was her home.    
  
Kara wasn’t too shocked to see that Lena had fallen asleep while she flew them back, she only hoped that the sleep was sound. Not wanting to wake her, she floated soundlessly through the narrow half and deposited Lena as gently as she could onto her bed, opting to sit in a chair near her bed instead of laying down beside her. If Lena awoke, she would be here for her, just as Lena had been for Kara when she had fainted after seeing Lena on the Waverider.    
  
Listening to the rhythmic sounds of Lena’s breathing she watched her for a time before taking the envelopes carefully from her pocket. She set the one addressed to Lena on the small bedside table beside her and opened hers as quietly as she could.    
  
_ Dear Kara, (you are Kara, I hope) _ _   
_ _   
_ _ I don’t know if I will ever truly understand how our paths ever crossed and I don’t think I ever need to. I told Lena as much yesterday but I consider our meeting a gift. I only hope that we can meet again someday. But if we can’t, I am very happy knowing that my daughter has someone as wonderful as you that makes her so happy. I didn’t get a chance to say before but I think you would make a wonderful mother. No pressure, of course. I hope that the two of you are happy. It sounds like the two of you had some rough seas to traverse and I’m sure that there will be more in the future. That’s life. There is always a strange mix of bitter and sweet that seems so random at times. It’s a wonderful, scary thing and so much more beautiful when you can experience it with someone you love by your side. Wherever your travels take the both of you, and whatever paths you find ahead of you, I hope that you can walk them together. Thank you for cherishing my daughter. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ All of my Love, always and a day _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Sive  _ _   
_ _   
_ _ P.S. I think the two of you make a very cute couple _

Kara brushed a few tears that had slid down her nose and threatened to fall and blot the letter. A lump was swelling in her throat and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from sobbing. She folded the letter back up carefully and set it on the table beside Lena’s unopened envelope.    
  
_ I’ll always be right here beside you, Lena,  _ Kara thought.  _ Always and a day. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!


	14. Picking up the pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Lena still in mourning, she slowly finds her way out of the fog and begins to look towards what lays ahead for her and Kara on the horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I owed a little bit of fluff after the last chapter. Tried to keep it light and save any big story beats for the next chapter.

When Lena first opened her eyes she was in no rush to push away the mental fog that she associated with early mornings or poor sleep. She knew what lay just beyond that fog and wasn’t ready to face that just yet. While her eyes adjusted to the dark she felt a hand on her cheek and reached up to hold it there. And then there were tears because of course there were. She felt them being brushed away and even before Lena could reach out to her, Kara was there. That familiar weight beside her and Kara’s arm pulling her tight to her so that the two were impossibly close together.

“How long have I been asleep?”   
  
“A while,” Kara said. “Are you still tired? You can always go back to sleep.”    
  
Lena shook her head slightly. “Not right now.” She groped for the lamp next to her bed and flipped the light on, flooding half the room in pale yellow light. “I had a nightmare,” she admitted and knew from the look on Kara’s face that she had likely already figured that out for herself. “Have you been here all this time?”   
  
Kara nodded. “I’ll always be right here.” She placed her hand on Lena’s chest. “I don’t want to be anywhere else.”    
  
Lena’s eyes shone with tears again and she almost managed a chuckle when she saw a look of concern flit across Kara’s face. “I don’t want you to go anywhere else.” She sat up and slid back against the headboard and drew her legs up to her chest. When Kara did the same, her head fell naturally against Kara’s shoulder. “I had a lot of nightmares back then after I lost my mother after I officially became a Luthor. I’d wake up screaming some nights. I knew that no one would come but I couldn’t help but hope that she’d somehow been there.” She chuckled and wiped a tear that had cascaded down her nose. “I was so foolish.”

“When you disappeared, Lena… I looked everywhere for you and I never stopped. I  _ knew  _ you were out there somewhere, I just couldn’t find you. When I’d go to your penthouse, I never expected to really find you there. I knew that I hurt you too much to ever come back… But I couldn’t stop myself from hoping that you would be there or come striding out of the other room… Hope isn’t foolish and neither is love.”    
  
Kara reached across to the bedside table and plucked her letter carefully from it along with the envelope addressed to Lena and set it in her lap. Lena didn’t need to ask what it was, she recognized the handwriting at once. “Where did you get these?”   
  
“Your mom left them with the inn owner.” She unfolded her letter and held it out so that they could read it together and tugged Lena closer.   
  
Lena read Kara’s letter, pausing a few times to smile at Kara. She would have loved nothing more than to tell her mom about those rough seas that the two had found themselves, given almost anything to have one more dinner with her and Kara. She drew the line at changing the timeline, not that a part of her hadn’t been tempted. “She thinks we make a cute couple.” She giggled and exchanged a shy look with Kara. “I always wondered if my mother would approve of the person I fell in love with… If she would be happy for me.” She looked embarrassed as she looked down at the letter again. “It’s hard to be sure of anything when they’re gone. My mind always has a way of gravitating to the worst possible outcome.”   
  
She reached out and picked up the envelope still nestled in her lap and held it up, easing the envelope open.   
  
“Did you want some privacy?” Kara asked. “I can go-”   
  
Lena kissed her on the temple and shook her head. “I want to read it with you.”    
  
Kara smiled and gave her a tiny nod, drawing the blanket up around them.   
  
She unfolded it and began to read.   
  
_ Dear Lena, _ _  
_ _  
_ _ I’m writing this while you’re curled up next to me. I keep looking over at you and thinking just how lucky I am. You’ve always been the light of my life, Lena, I hope that I’ve never let you forget that. If I have, I hope that this letter can be proof of that. I never knew how full of love my life could be until you came along. You are what makes my life truly special. Every mother always wants the best for their child and as they get older, you start to realize just how unlikely that really is. I’ll sleep so much better knowing that you’ve found someone that you love and loves you. That’s the hard part, the impossible part for some. There will be bumps along the way and fights here and there, because life isn’t a fairy tale, no matter how much I may treat you like a princess. A happily ever after is a fine way to end a fairytale but it’s a poor thing to strive for in real life. Focus too much on the end and you miss just how wonderful everything is along the way. Every step of the journey I’ve been on with you, Lena, has been just that, wonderful.  _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Wherever life ends up taking you Lena, I hope that you’ve surrounded yourself with people that love you. Your light is meant to be shared with the world. I wish you and Kara all the happiness in the world and that you're there to lean on each other during tough times. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ I love you so much, Lena. Meeting you and Kara today was a gift but every day with you has been one. Whatever you do with your life, Lena, know that I couldn’t be prouder of you and that I will always love you, no matter what. _ _ I couldn't have asked for a more amazing daughter than you.  
_ _  
_ _ All of my love (as always) _ _ forever and a day,  
_ _  
_ _ Mom _

_ P.S. If the two of you ever do decide to settle down, you might want this. Either way, it was going to be yours anyway so I don’t see the harm in giving it to you now.  _ _  
_ _  
_ Lena looked up at Kara, picked up the envelope and slid her hand inside. Her fingers closed around the object inside and she knew what it was at once. She blushed when she took it out and showed it to Kara, holding it in her open palm. “Now she is prying,” Lena joked and brushed a tear away with the back of her hand.    
  
Lena plucked the ring from her hand and held it up to the light. The ring was silver and while it looked well cared for, there were some scratches that ran along the band that showed just how old it was. “This was her mother’s ring. My grandmother. She died before I was born.” She held it out to Kara, seemed to realize how it must look, and dropped it shyly into her outstretched hand. “She was wearing it the day she died. They never…” She gave a quick shake of her head and felt Kara’s arm draw tighter around her to let her know that she didn’t need to elaborate.   
  
“It’s beautiful. The letter and the ring.”   
  
Lena nodded. I’ll cherish it forever.” She sniffed and folded the letter up carefully. She wanted to read it again but knew that she wouldn’t make it through a second time without crying. “I’m so happy you met her, Kara.” She drew the blankets up around the both of them and leaned against Kara’s shoulder, her eyes beginning to close.   
  
_ I think it’s too soon, Mother,  _ Lena thought.  _ We just found our way back to each other. But someday…” _ A small smile crossed her face and she felt herself drifting. Instead of fighting it, she let herself begin to fall. 

* * *

“I can always bring you back something. We can have breakfast in bed,” Kara suggested. She was standing in the doorway and looking warily at Lena as she finished dressing.    
  
“I need to get out sometime,” Lena said. She had spent the last week holed up in her room with Kara, only going out for the occasional shower or to use the bathroom. Kara had stayed right there beside her, only making very brief trips down to the galley to bring back food for the both of them and only after assuring Lena that she would be right back. Seeing her rush back into the room with a bright smile on her face and her arms full of food accompanied by a strong gust of wind never failed to coax a smile out of her. “And it would be nice to see everybody.”   
  
Kara nodded. “They have missed you.”    
  
“I’m sure they’ve enjoyed not having such a long line for the bathroom.” She tried to do something with her hair in the mirror but no matter what she tried she couldn’t quite shake the disheveled look completely. “How do I look?” she asked, one hand on her hip and the other still messing with hair absentmindedly.    
  
“You’re not going to get a non-biased answer out of me.”   
  
“And if I’m fishing for a compliment?”   
  
“Then, amazing. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”   
  
_ Funny. I was just thinking the same thing,  _ she thought.   
  


* * *

  
Lena could hear the sounds of conversation drifting from the dining room long before her and Kara had reached it. She really had missed them. When she stepped into the dining room she braced herself for the inevitably awkward clearing of the air that she hoped to approach with all the efficiency of ripping off a bandaid.    
  
“Hello,” she said, sliding into her seat nearest to the door.    
  
“Morning,” Sara said, setting her coffee cup back down and smiling at both Lena and Kara.    
  
“Coffee?” Ray asked. He held up the pot and gave it a careful waggle.   
  
“He made it normal this time, I checked.” Zari held up her own mug and took a small sip.    
  
“Yes, if the whole superhero thing doesn’t work out Ray, you have a very promising future as a barista,” Sara teased.   
  
“You joke,” Nate said, “but time traveler doesn’t look all that good on a resume. Trust me.” He made a face and returned his attention to his grapefruit. "Why is there a three-year gap in your work history?" he muttered darkly.  
  
“If the Time Bureau were still around it might look good, although…” Ava pursed her lips. “Or it might not.”   
  
“We weren’t very popular with the Time Bureau,” Sara elaborated, looking at Kara. “What did you put in my file, Babe?”   
  
“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”    
  
“Nope,” Sara said, popping the last syllable.   
  
“Underqualified, reckless and has a severe problem with authority.” Ava made an 'are you happy now?' face and stuck her tongue out at Sara. 

  
“Reads like my third-grade report card,” Mick said. 

“That tracks,” Ray said. He set a mug down in front of Kara and Lena, filling both of them nearly to the brim.    
  
Lena chuckled, nearly spilling some coffee out of her almost too-full mug. She  _ had  _ missed this, which only made what she wanted to talk to Sara about all the more difficult. “Gideon,” she said. “I’ve never known you to be so quiet.”   
  
“It is quite nice,” Zari said, as if only just realizing the relative quiet. “I think she’s missed you the most out of all of us.”   
  


“Captain Lance thought you might like the peace and quiet,” Gideon said.   
  
“I haven’t missed you interrupting my sleep, Gideon, but I’ve had enough peace and quiet to last me for a while.”   
  
“I’m afraid you can’t have it both ways, Miss Luthor.”    
  
“You’ll have plenty of time to bother Lena, later, Gideon.” Sara dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and stood up. “There hasn’t been any sign of an anachronism or hiccup in the timeline lately. For now, we’re kind of just relaxing.”   
  
“What about the witch?” Mick asked.   
  
Lena made a face. “I almost forgot.”   
  
Nate elbowed Mick in the side. “Why did you have to bring her up?”   
  
“Because I’m the one that’s had to watch her day in and day out.”   
  
“It’s fine,” Lena said. “I want her off the ship just as much as you do.”   
  
“Debatable,” Mick muttered.    
  
“At this point, Lillian's closet is almost nothing but skeletons. I don’t think there would be much that anyone could get to stick to her legally but she’s definitely on the hook for taking Alex, hostage. It’s not much,” she said, clearly annoyed. “But her name being dragged through the mud might be more satisfying than her having to sit in a jail cell for whatever slap on the wrist sentence they give her.”   
  
“We could always call up John,” Sara suggested. “I’m sure he could be convinced to whip up a portal to hell that we could toss her into.”   
  
“She’s joking right?” Kara asked, looking at Lena.   
  
“Mostly,” Sara said and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “Not like we have anything else to do. It’s been all quiet on the timeline, not an anachronism or an aberration in sight. I think we could swing by National City.” She caught Lena’s eye. “Maybe make a weekend of it.”   
  
“It’s Tuesday,” Zari said.   
  
Sara shrugged. “In spirit. What do you say? Everybody up for a little shore leave?”   
  
Mick nodded. “I am if her sister’s still paying for drinks.”   
  
“We could probably get everybody together for a game night,” Kara said. “I know everybody would love to see you, Lena. All of you.”   
  
“Real nice save there at the end,” Zari teased.    
  
“Oh, that might be fun, Babe. A little dose of normal between everything else,” Ava said.    
  
“I’m game,” Ray said. “Get it? Game?”   
  
“I have no idea what Nora sees in you,” Zari muttered.    
  
Nate patted Ray on the back. “I do, Buddy.”    
  
“Well, it looks like we’re making another pit stop to National City and all without a world-ending catastrophe to avert.” Sara grinned. 

* * *

  
After breakfast, Kara floated the idea of a shower by Lena with a slight raise of her eyebrow that cemented the smile on Lena’s face that had flickered and sputtered like a candle fighting against a strong wind all throughout breakfast. She promised to join her shortly and gave Kara a kiss that under oath she would have described as chaste or something at least in the ballpark. She made her way down to the Captain’s Office hoping to find Sara there and was a little disappointed to find it empty.    
  
“Looking for me?”   
  
“How long have you been tailing me?” Lena’s heart hadn’t leaped out of her chest the way it sometimes did when Sara caught her flatfooted but it did take a moment or two to return to its resting rhythm.    
  
“Not tailing,” Sara said. “We just happened to be going the same way and I actually wanted to talk to you.”   
  
“How fortuitous because I wanted to talk to you too.”    
  
Sara walked past her and into the office, the lights springing on as she stepped inside. She sat down at the small circular table in the middle of the room and gestured for Lena to do the same. “Mind if I go first?”   
  
“You are the Captain,” Lena said, sitting down.   
  
“First of all, I’m happy to see you up and about. We all are. I hope you know that we’re all here for you anytime you need us. If you need more time or just want to talk.”   
  
“I know,” Lena said softly. “That’s what made this last week a little more bearable, knowing you all were around. I’m still not okay but I want to be.”   
  
“Understandable." Sara leaned over the table a bit. "I think I know what you want to talk to me about but before you do, I actually have something to give you and I didn’t want to do it at breakfast.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a photograph. “Ava took it. I tried but photography is not one of the skills they teach in the League of Shadows, go figure.”   
  
Lena took it from her and turned it over to get a better look at it and let out a small gasp of surprise.    
  
“I know we’re not technically supposed to bring things back from our trips back but I think that rule kind of flew out the window when Mick and Nate started stealing things. Do you like it?”   
  
Lena nodded dumbfounded. It was a photograph of Kara, her mother, and herself in the small sitting area of the inn. Her mother was in mid-laugh, her hand raised slightly as if on the way to cover her mouth. Kara was squeezed in close to Lena, one hand on her knee and a warm smile on her face, an expression mirrored on her own face, sandwiched between Kara and her mother. Behind the three of them at the window was her younger self, staring out the window at the rain. 

“This is... Thank you, Sara. I’ll need to thank Ava… Everyone for what they did.” She let out what sounded like an exasperated sigh and quickly walked around the table and hugged Sara, a little surprised when Sara hugged back. 

“We’re family,” Sara said. “No matter what.” Her eyes twinkled and she gave Lena a pat on the back. “So, tell me your news. Am I going to suddenly be down two Legends?”   
  
“Not right this instant… But soon… With Lillian in custody, National City needs Supergirl and-”   
  
“You need Supergirl?” Sara teased.   
  
“Yes,” she said, a little defiantly. Lena’s expression softened and she looked around the office. “I really don’t want to leave. This place has been my home even longer than National City, but I can’t leave Kara again.”   
  
“Hey, I understand. Not everyone can go time traveling with their girlfriend forever.”   
  
“Present company excluded, of course.”   
  
“Naturally.”   
  
“I haven’t even talked to Kara about this… I don’t even know if she wants to-”   
  
Sara rolled her eyes. “She does.”   
  
“-be stuck with me, but if she does, then we’ll start to get the ball rolling and then go from there.”   
  
“Are you going to be the one to tell the team?”   
  
“I will, but not yet. When it’s time though, I will. I trust that Gideon can keep her mouth shut until then?”   
  
“Of course, I can, although I don’t technically have a mouth.”   
  
“You’ve just been listening to us this whole time, haven’t you?” Lena asked.   
  
“I’m tasked with monitoring the crew, Miss Luthor, which often includes listening in on your conversations."   
  
“I’m not going to miss that,” Lena said and smiled. “But everything else… I’ll miss that a lot.”   
  
“You act like you’re already out the door already.” Sara stood up and jerked her head towards the door. “But don’t let me keep you from anything.” She smirked and waved her off.    
  
“Mm-hmm,” Lena said. “Not going to miss the one bathroom business, either.”   
  
“Is that why you and Kara shower together so often? To save time?” she teased.   
  
“I could ask you the same thing about you and Ava.”   
  
“Oh, that’s definitely not why. Go on.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to thank everyone for all the lovely comments and general interest in the story. It really means a lot. Hope you're all staying healthy and safe!


	15. Moving on and moving in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena attempts to get some much-needed answers from Lillian before handing her off to the authorities while she poses a very important question to Kara before their return to National City

The rooms aboard the Waverider were not built for pacing. They were  _ just  _ large enough for two people to fit semi-comfortably but Kara had found a way around that particular problem by hovering high enough in the air that her head nearly brushed the ceiling. Lena watched all this in the mirror as she finished buttoning her blouse, staring at Kara for another minute before breaking the silence.    
  
“Usually when I get changed you like to watch.”   
  
“Huh?” Kara turned around quickly. “I do,” she insisted and floated back down to the floor. She seemed to realize what she admitted to a moment later because her face went ever so slightly pink. “I'm just worried.”   
  
“Kara… I’ll be fine.” She stood up and put her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “I spent years living under the same roof as Lillian, I can certainly stomach a few more minutes.”   
  
“I know, I just don’t want the last thing that Lillian says to you to be something horrible.”   
  
“ _ Everything  _ she’s ever said to anyone has always been awful, which is preferable to a compliment from her.” She shuddered at the mere thought of it. Her expression softened when she saw just how concerned Kara looked. “I know you’re worried. You’ve been floating around my room for the past twenty minutes but I’ll be fine. But I refuse to believe that she went to all that trouble to get her hands on L-Corp’s time travel tech just to go back and try and kill me. She’s petty but if she just wanted to kill me she wouldn’t need to go back in time to do that.”    
  
“I could go with you,” Kara offered.   
  
“You want to do the old good cop bad cop routine?” Lena teased. “Does that automatically make me the bad cop?” She raised an eyebrow. “If so, that gives me an idea for later…” She grinned mischievously and was happy to see that Kara’s mood seemed to lift somewhat at that.   
  
“I could always be the bad cop.”   
  
“You’re too adorable for that,” Lena teased. “If I thought she’d actually talk, I’d do it in a heartbeat but you could wait just outside, monitor her heartbeat? Catching her in a lie is the closest thing to the truth we’ll get.”   
  
“Is that all I am to you, a Kryptonian lie-detector?” Kara asked, her face contorted in mock outrage.   
  
Any other day, Lena would have been more than happy to keep the joke going a while longer, but today there’s only one way she can think to answer that particular question. “You’re the love of my life.”    
  
Kara’s cheeks flushed and she immediately swept Lena up in an embrace that quite literally swept her off her feet.   
  
“Kara!” Lena cried, laughing at the suddenness of the embrace.

“You’re not the only one that gets to be sweet.  _ And,  _ you’re the love of my life, too.”   
  
“Am I?” Lena asked, feigning shock. “I didn’t want to assume…”   
  
“Which is why I’m telling you.”   
  
“Well, since you have me here,” Lena said and pointed down at how the both of them were now hovering a few inches off the ground. “There’s actually something I wanted to run by you before we saw everybody.”   
  
“Is this about Game night, because I know we’re going to be a little rusty but I still think we have a chance.”   
  
Lena chuckled. “I was thinking more along the lines of future game nights... National City needs Supergirl.” She smiled softly. “The  _ world  _ needs Supergirl. She can’t stay cooped up on a timeship forever and with Lillian unable to pollute the timeline any further, I don’t need to feel personally responsible for any damage she might cause. And I don’t know if you’d even want to but we’ve been living out of each other’s rooms here on the ship for months now... If you wanted to-”   
  
“Yes!” Kara gripped Lena tight enough to force a wheeze out of Lena before immediately loosening her grip. “Sorry! Sorry! You are talking about moving in together, aren’t you?”   
  
“I am…” Lena laughed. “I just wasn’t sure if you would think that would be moving too fast. After everything that we’ve gone through to get here… I just… I  _ really  _ don’t want to screw it up.” In a perfect world, one where the two of them were never separated for five long years, they would have had ample time to ease into things, although with how long the two had danced around their feelings for one another, maybe jumping in feet first really was the best way for them to go about things.    
  
“Everything that’s happened, Lena. It just makes me all the more sure about us. But are you sure you want to leave the Waverider? It’s been your home for so long. If you want to stay, I would too. I’m not the only hero that can protect National City.”    
  
“I know you would.” Lena planted a kiss on her temple. “It’s tempting, it really is, especially at the prospect of seeing you in  _ and out  _ of different period clothing and there are other people to fill Supergirl’s shoes while you’re away but there’s only one Kara Danvers and she's’ the one I want to build a life with.”   
  
“Where would we live?” Kara beamed at her and rose another foot into the air, her head brushing the ceiling before she finally came down, depositing Lena on the bed next to her. “My place?”   
  
“I was thinking that we’d figure that out while we’re here and then one last mission with the team before handing in my decoder ring. We’ve had some very abrupt goodbyes, I don’t want to tell them that we’ll be leaving out of the blue like that.”    
  
“One last mission? Sounds ominous,” Kara teased.    
  
“It might be,” Lena admitted. “If I didn’t have you.” She slid off the edge of the bed, her bright smile faltering somewhat. “But before we start planning our retirement from time traveling, let me go give Lillian the third-degree.” She sighed a little and seemed to drag her feet on the way to the door. “There will be booze at Game night, right?”   
  
“Mick said he’d tag along so, yeah."   
  
“Having a drink  _ before  _ I talked with her would be preferable, but I don’t trust myself to hold my tongue if I did that.”   
  
“If she threatens you again, I am upgrading myself from lie-detector to angry girlfriend,” Kara said, shutting the door behind them.   
  


* * *

  
  
The moment that Lena walked into the lab, he immediately stood up from his chair and ripped the headphones off his ears that made the Black Sabbath that he had been listening to all the easier to identify. He looked both relieved and livid as he squeezed past Lena, a look that she knew all too well after spending any amount of time with Lillian.    
  
“Sorry,” Lena whispered as he slipped past. “Try living with her for a while.” She smirked at him, almost laughing when she saw him shudder.    
  
“Would rather go back to prison,” he growled.   
  
“Funny coincidence,” Lena said, loud enough so that Lillian could hear as well. “That’s exactly where she’s going when we arrive.”   
  
“Yes, yes. Come to rub it in, I suppose.” Lillian had stubbornly remained on her feet for nearly the entire duration of her confinement on the Waverider and she had immediately drawn herself up to her full height when Lena had entered. “I was beginning to think you didn’t want to see me.”   
  
“Have I  _ ever  _ wanted to see you?” Lena couldn’t keep her voice entirely neutral, an iciness seeping into it like frost through a windowpane.   
  
“There’s no need to be so catty. You should be thanking me,” Lillian said. She stepped as close to Lena as the cell would allow, pressing a hand against the invisible barrier. “You did get to see your mother again, didn’t you? You never would have been able to do that if not for me.”   
  
“You tried to kill me and you didn’t do a very good job of it either,” Lena said, sounding more disappointed than upset.    
  
“You did kill Lex. What else could I do?” She gave a small shrug. “Or have you forgotten already?”    
  
“I’ll never forget,” Lena said, willing her voice to remain steady, for her to keep staring icily back at Lillian. It was still difficult for her to reconcile the memory of the younger version of Lex that she had grown up with and the egomaniacal lunatic that he had become in his relentless vendetta against Superman and the world that he believed to be so naive. “I did what I had to do to keep the world safe from him, to keep-”   
  
“That Kryptonian you’re so sweet on safe and sound?” She scoffed and turned on her heel, shaking her head. “We never had that mother-daughter chat about being careful who you date, did we? I fear it might be a little too late at this juncture."   
  
“We never talked much at all and we certainly didn’t chat.”    
  
“I know you don’t take much stock in my opinion, Lena, but trust me when I say that you can do far better than her.”   
  
Lena chuckled, shaking her head. “If your opinion of Kara wasn’t so low, that would  _ almost  _ sound like a compliment.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Chronos device, showing it to Lillian. “However stupid you might think I am, surely you don’t think that I believe you went through all the trouble of getting this just to try and kill me?”   
  
“And why would you think that?” Lillian’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, radiating that dismissive energy that all the worst educators seemed to have an endless supply of.    
  
“You don’t care enough about me, either way, to go through that much trouble.” Lena’s grin curled into a sneer. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. It’s my tech, you don’t think I would make sure that I could be able to figure out exactly where you’ve been before I handed it over to you?”   
  
“No,” Lillian said in that clipped tone of voice that meant her already Lilliputian-sized patience was beginning to wear thin. “Do you think I spent my days plotting different ways to make you and that Kryptonian’s life miserable? That trip to get rid of you was my first one. How was I supposed to know that your girlfriend would take such offense to that?”   
  
“It wouldn’t be the first time you whiled away your days plotting revenge on someone.”

“You’re determined to think the worst of me. Are you hoping that I’d confess to you exactly what I did? If you truly think that, why make your job any easier, Lena? You want to think of yourself as the hero and save the world from your family’s machinations? At least be willing to put in the legwork.”    
  
“You never once treated me like family.” Lena’s eyes flashed dangerously. “The people on this ship were more a family to me than you ever were.”   
  
Lillian scoffed. “And I suppose that includes the Kryptonian?”    
  
“Yes,” Lena said without a moment’s hesitation. “Of course, it does.”   
  
“I’m disappointed,” Lillian said simply.

“Glad to see that some things never change.” Lena turned on her heel to go and paused, turning around. “I should thank you,” she said. “Thanks to you, I was able to see my mother again. It tracks that the only nice thing you’ve ever done for me be completely unintentional.” Lena’s shocked to see for the first time ever, that Lillian seems lost for words. If not for the fact that they were on a time-traveling vessel and her girlfriend could crush coal into diamonds,  _ that _ might be the most surprising thing she’s ever witnessed.    
  
“The Kryptonian,” Lillian called as Lena turned once again to leave.   
  
“Kara,” Lena insisted.    
  
“Kara,” Lillian said, her eyes rolling in her head, that one word somehow dripping with contempt. “Do you think it wise to trust someone that’s already broken your heart once? I really thought that I taught you better than that.”   
  
Lena slowed her pace before finally coming to a halt right in front of the door leading out of the lab. “Love is wise.” She didn’t need to turn around to know that the meaning was lost on Lillian but saw no need to try and elaborate any further than that. It would maybe give her something to dwell on during the long stretches of time in prison. Lena sincerely doubted that Lillian would actually use her time in prison for anything even close to resembling reflection but stranger things had happened.    
  
“She’s awful,” Kara said just as soon as the door shut behind Lena.    
  
Lena very nearly laughed and reached up to play with Kara’s hair. “It’s cute that you can sound so outraged about it.” Her eyes twinkled and she nodded in agreement. “Could you tell if she was lying?”   
  
“I could, but the change was  _ very  _ subtle. I doubt that it would so much have registered on a lie detector, an actual one, not your girlfriend.”    
  
“Figures,” Lena said, not sounding at all surprised. She pulled the device from her pocket. “I’ll have Gideon go over the data. If I ever tinkered with the design I could do it right now but it’s still barely more than a prototype, it will take some time to go over all the data.”   
  
“Maybe for you, Miss Luthor. I’m sure I can go over it in no time at all.”   
  
“No,” Lena said and glanced up at the ceiling. “I had you in mind when I said it, Gideon.”   
  
“The one time you allow me to actually help and it’s to breakdown several thousand exabytes of data while you and the rest of the team go off and play hooky.”   
  
“Of course you can come, Gideon,” Kara assured her. “Although I don’t know how fair trivia would be against an actual supercomputer.”   
  
“That never stopped Brainy from participating,” Lena reminded her. “And it’s not like you can’t do both. You’ve always been good at multitasking.”    
  
“Was that a compliment, Miss Luthor?”   
  
“Don’t act so shocked.”   
  
“Your mood  _ has  _ improved greatly since Kara’s come aboard the Waverider. If you’d like to know the exact numbers…”   
  
“It sounds like someone is itching to get uninvited to Game night, Gideon.”   
  
“I believe it was Kara that extended the invitation in the first place,” Gideon reminded her.    
  
“She’s got you there,” Kara said, elbowing Lena playfully in the side.    
  
“Taking Gideon’s side over Lena’s,” Sara said as she walked up the hallway towards them. “Very brave.” She smiled and pointed at the lab door. “We’re about to make the jump to National City. Ava’s chomping at the bit to take her into custody. You can take the girl out of the Time Bureau but you can’t take the Time Bureau out of the girl.”    
  
“Let me just connect this to Gideon’s mainframe,” Lena said, holding up the device still clutched in her hand, “and then we’ll head down to the bridge.”    
  


“I’m going to go with Ava once we land. Get everything squared away. Give you two some time to catch up with your sister, Kara, and let the rest of the team blow off some steam before we meet up for dinner.” She examined both of them closely. “You two come to any big decisions yet?”   
  
“Still ironing out the details but it looks like the next mission will be our last,” Lena said, looking somewhat guilty.    
  
“You’ll be plenty sick of us all by then.”   
  
“If I’m not already,” Lena teased. “I’ll let everybody know soon, but I don’t want to put a damper on everybody’s evening.”   
  
“At least wait until we’ve had a few drinks,” Sara said and clapped Lena on the shoulder.

* * *

  
  
To say that Kara had lost track of time on the Waverider was a bit of an understatement. She had been so happy to have Lena back in her life that the moments that she had found herself homesick were very few and far between. It was hard to miss your bed when you fell asleep curled up with the person you loved and woke up the same way and while Lena had been right about the food leaving something to be desired, they hadn’t been away long enough for her to get any really bad cravings for anything. But she had missed Alex. She had been the most persistent in keeping Kara tethered to as much of her old life as she could when Lena disappeared and after all the time aboard the Waverider, she had so much to share with her and it was likely that she had just as much to share with Kara. It had been summer when they had left and with the light dusting of snow on the ground and tops of buildings when they arrived in the city made it clear that they had been away at the very least for a few months.    
  
“Time flies when you’re on a time ship,” Ray said when he caught sight of the look of surprise on Kara’s face.    
  
Zari stared at him, “Again, I have to question what Nora sees in you sometimes Ray. It  _ can’t  _ be your sense of humor, it just can’t.”   
  
“It didn’t feel like I’d been gone that long,” Kara said. “I didn’t expect snow.”   
  
Ava nodded knowingly. “Time gets kind of funny when you’re going in and out of the Temporal Zone. A few months is actually on the tame side.”   
  
“Kara’s just worried about missing Christmas,” Sara teased.    
  
“Santa has so far not visited the Waverider,” Nate said, counting off the number of Christmases he had spent aboard the ship.   
  
“The city does look a lot better though,” Ray said, still peering out the window.   
  
Kara had to agree. When they had left, the city had looked much like a city on the brink and now it looked more or less the way that Kara remembered it. There were still signs of construction and she was almost certain that there had been a small exodus of some kind afterward. You saw it in Gotham far more than any other city but none of them were immune. Looking close she noticed minute differences here and there and couldn’t stop herself from scanning for some signs of a Big Belly Burger.    
  
“Ava and I are going to head down in the jump ship and hand Lillian off. We’ll all meet up back here about seven? See if we can paint the town red.”   
  
"You've never had a Game night before, have you?" Kara asked.  
  
"I'm still getting a handle on this whole domestic bliss thing," Sara said.  
  
“We’ll gather everybody else up after Lena and I visit with Alex.” Kara smiled at the thought of seeing everyone again, but the smile faltered somewhat when she saw Lena looking nervously out the window, twisting a lock of hair absentmindedly around her finger.    
  
“I’m going to go stretch my legs,” Zari said. “Maybe make a snow angel,” she snarked.    
  
“And Nate, Mick and I are going to swing by the museum,” Ray said. “I wanted to stop by the last time we were here but we had that meteor shower to deal with. I’ve heard there are some pretty rare exhibits that you can’t see anywhere else.   
  
Lena perked up from her seat when she heard Ray mention the museum. “L-Corp donated a lot of the pieces. Somewhat of an olive branch to the city for housing a Luthor but most of the pieces were ones that I thought were worth sharing, bought from private collectors that insisted that no price would get them to consider selling.    
  
“And?” Nate inquired.    
  
“There’s  _ always  _ a price.” Lena grinned a little and caught Mick’s eye. “They’re also guarded incredibly well so I hope your plan amounts to more than a smash and grab, Mick.”   
  
“ _ That’s  _ why you wanted to come with us,” Nate said, smacking himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand.   
  
“Either way,” Sara said. “We’ll see everybody tonight. Try not to get arrested.”   
  
“I’ll try to try,” Mick grunted.    
  
Sara shrugged as if she knew that was the best they would ever get out of Mick and piloted the Waverider down, landing where they had the first time they had come to National City, smack dab in front of the DEO.   
  
As everyone got up to leave, Kara reached over and gave Lena’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Are you nervous about being back in the city?”   
  
“No… Yes…” Lena shrugged and undid her harness but made no attempt to get up out of her seat. “It just feels weird to be seeing everybody again after so long. I barely said two words to Brainy… I just feel like it’s too late.” She chuckled. “You got involved with a woman that is the definition of glass half-empty.”   
  
Kara undid her harness as well before standing up. She understood how Lena must have felt. Time had a way of stretching out and made some gaps feel impassable, so much so that some people drew up the courage to walk to the edge and found themselves unable to take that leap. Luckily, Lena and she hadn’t had that issue, maybe because Kara herself can fly or because they were both brave enough to take that leap together. Whatever the reason, Kara is just thankful that the two got their second chance.    
  
“It’s never too late,” Kara said. “You could have come back in twenty years… Fifty. I still would never have stopped looking for you or waiting for you to come back. Everyone is going to be so happy to see you again, Lena. Hopefully both of us,” she teased.   
  
Lena nodded and stood up, offering Kara her hand. “Let’s go find out then.”    
  
Lena didn’t have to wait too long to find out. She and Kara had barely taken two steps off the Waverider when Alex came barrelling towards both of them.   
  
“I was about to come in there looking for you two,” Alex said, wrapping them both into a bone-crushing hug. “I was starting to think that you wouldn’t come back until I had gotten all the heavy lifting done rebuilding the city.”   
  
“Aww, Kara, I told you that she’d figure it out,” Lena said.    
  
“We lost track of time,” Kara said, laughing. “It doesn’t feel like we were gone all that long, honestly. Then Lillian killed Lena and we-”   
  
“She what!?” Alex asked, horrified, tightening her grip on Lena’s arm as if to confirm she really was there.   
  
“Maybe you should tell her from the beginning,” Lena suggested.    
  
“Yes, I’m going to want to hear everything, and I mean everything.” Alex locked eyes with both of them to show that she meant business. “But… Are you here for a while or for good…”    
  
Kara smiled at Lena before she answered. “Well… Lena was the one who suggested it,” she said, wanting Alex to know that Lena was just as set on staying as Kara was on convincing her to come back. “But we want to move in together.” She saw one of Alex’s eyebrows start to come up and she spoke before Alex could fully settle into big sister mode. “We’ve pretty much been living together since we left.”   
  
“Kara,” Lena hissed, her cheeks beginning to redden surprisingly fast.    
  
“And with rent these days,” Kara said as if that was at all a problem for her when she was dating Lena Luthor.   
  
“Kara-”   
  
“Plus, Lena’s penthouse was destroyed in the meteor shower and I have been meaning to look for a new place.”   
  
“Kara,” Alex repeated, a bit more forcefully this time. “All I wanted to say was that I’m happy for both of you.” She smiled at both of them. “Although it does seem a little fast. But that’s not for me to decide. So, are you two back for good then?”   
  
“Almost,” Lena said. “We thought we’d try and get the ball rolling while we’re here, maybe try and do some apartment hunting and then say a proper goodbye to the Legends, so don’t tell anyone just yet.”    
  
“My lips are sealed,” Alex said and smiled warmly at Lena. “I’m  _ really  _ glad you’re coming back.”    
  
“I am too.”    
  
“Oh! I almost forgot.” Kara pointed to the three of them. “We wanted to have dinner together with everybody tonight, maybe make a night of it if you don’t think it’s too short of notice.”    
  
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Alex laughed. “Everyone’s been dying to see both of you. Whatever plans they have, I’m sure they can cancel them. Let me go grab my phone and let them know. I’ll be right back!” Alex turned to go back towards the DEO, her pace between a brisk run and a very fast jog. She turned back once as if worried that Kara and Lena might disappear if she looked away for too long.   
  
“No backing out now,” Lena said, her head coming to rest against Kara’s shoulder.    
  
“Moving back?”    
  
Lena shook her head gently. “Moving in with me. You sure you know what you’re getting into?”   
  
“I know  _ exactly  _ what I’m getting into.” Kara snaked her arm around Lena’s waist and pulled her close to her."I'm the one that's going to be flying in and out of the window at all hours of the day and night, climbing back into bed with cold feet... Tracking in snow," she added, gesturing to the snowy ground.  
  
"Just as long as you come back," Lena said. She slipped a hand around Kara's waist and pulled her flush against her. "And if you come home covered in snow... I know a few ways I can heat you up."  
  
"The cold doesn't really- Oh..." Kara had always been a little slow on the uptake when it came to flirting, maybe that was why it had taken her so long to see the very blatant signals that Lena had tried sending out.  
  
"Now you're getting it," Lena said, pulling her into a kiss that made one of Kara's feet kick slightly off the ground behind her.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. 
> 
> Come say hi 
> 
> inkedroplets.tumblr.com


	16. Homecoming

You really couldn’t go home again.    
  
Or at least that’s what Lena had initially believed. She had repeated that as a mantra to herself her first year away when the bouts of homesickness and longing sprung up regularly and the more time passed, the easier it became to believe until it had become an immutable fact. That had been the immovable object that had kept her and Kara apart. Oddly enough, it was Kara herself that had been the unstoppable force that had brought them back together.    
  
The same unstoppable force who had been the only one of the Legends to wake up hangover free. Last night’s game night had been only that in spirit. They had spent a vast majority of the night drinking with the board games and charades falling by the wayside when it became obvious that none of them were in any state to even keep score and while the rest of the Legends had all crammed back into the jump ship to sleep it off in the Waverider, Lena and Kara had elected to stay at Alex’s apartment, sleeping curled up together in the spare room.    
  
Not wanting to wake Lena, Kara had very slowly levitated up off the bed, unhooking her arm from around Lena’s waist and gliding out the door, shutting it as quietly as she possibly could. It made the tiniest of squeaks when she latched it closed, listening for a moment to see if that woke Lena and drifted down the hall surprised to see Alex already up and sitting at the kitchen table, resting her chin on her hand.    
  
“Morning,” Kara said, sliding out one of the chairs so that it stuttered across the floor.   
  
Alex winced at the noise, made a face, and then smiled. “Morning. I was going to make coffee,” she said and pointed to the counter. “But I was afraid that my head might explode and thought better of it.”    
  
“I can make it.” Kara slid out of her chair and walked over to the counter, opening up one of the cupboards, surprised to find it full of plates instead of the cups she was looking for.    
  
“Top right,” Alex said and pointed. “I’ve moved things around since you’ve been gone.” She smiled and glanced at the calendar on the wall which showed a picture of two young children lugging a sled up a snowy hill, both of them apple-cheeked. “It hasn’t been the same without you around.”    
  
Kara’s face fell as she took down three mugs from the cupboard, setting them down and biting her lip. “I really didn’t know that we would be gone so long.” Six months going on seven. It was a drop in the ocean compared to how long Lena had been away from National City but so much could and  _ had  _ changed in six months.    
  
“Time flies when you’re in love, huh?”   
  
“I don’t know if there’s any science behind it but that might have played a tiny part.” Kara smiled to herself and pressed the brew button on the coffee machine and slid back into her chair. “That or the time travel.”    
  
“Yeah, about that. Every time somebody tries to explain it to me, they already act like I should know that’s a thing. How does it work? You guys just go flying around and fixing things that shouldn’t happen?”    
  
“Pretty much. Lena described it to me as a car barreling down the freeway and they, we, just kept one hand on the wheel to make sure that it doesn't go off the road.”   
  
“Should I be concerned that it happens so often that the timeline needs a team tasked with making sure that nothing happens?”   
  
“No more so than any emergency here. Speaking of here, how have things been without Supergirl?”   
  
Alex lifted her chin off of her hand and waggled it. “The timing wasn’t great. With you disappearing right after the kryptonite meteor shower, a lot of people thought that you might have died.”   
  
“I never thought of that…”   
  
“Neither did I. Hindsight. Everything happened so fast. Lena showing up again out of the blue and you leaving.” She shrugged. “Even if we had thought of that bump in the road would it have stopped you from going?”   
  
“No,” Kara answered honestly.    
  
Alex snapped her fingers, winced again, and rubbed at her temple. “Anyway, J’onn’s been making rounds around the city as you. Mostly to keep the tabloids from gossiping about you any more than they already have, because things have been pretty quiet around here. There was a bank robbery about a month ago and then there was a kidnapping but nothing too major. Not too surprising though. Things have been pretty quiet since… you know.”   
  
Alex didn’t need to finish that thought for Kara to know what she meant. After Lex’s death, National City, while far from being idyllic, had become a far safer city. “Quiet’s good.”    
  
“It is,” Alex agreed. “As for life without Kara Danvers in it… That’s been very dull,” she teased.   
  
The coffeemaker dinged pleasantly and Kara slid out of her chair and brought the pot back with her, pouring a cup for Alex and then for herself. “It was pretty dull with me around too.” She sighed. “I didn’t handle Lena’s disappearance very well…” Kara felt that was somewhat of an understatement but even now with that behind her it was difficult for her to put into words just how painful it had been having something so essential missing from her life and being so desperate to cling to the memory of Lena that she had spent the majority of those five years frozen in time, so to speak.    
  
“Not dull,” Alex said quickly. “Just not all there…” She offered up a very small smile. “I should have known how much Lena meant to you… Maybe then-”   
  
Kara shook her head. “I could barely admit it to myself with her gone, how could you have known?"  
  
Alex took a small sip and sat up a little straighter in her seat. “Well… It wasn’t like there weren’t signs before.”    
  
“Were there?” Kara asked, sounding more amused than shocked.    
  
“The way that you looked at her and the way she looked at you. I’d catch you looking at her and then when you noticed you’d glance away. You didn’t look guilty exactly but it was odd. Saying it out loud, I really should have asked you about it. And then there were the flowers.”   
  
“Flowers?”   
  
“When Lena filled your entire office with them.” Alex looked like she wanted to smack herself on the forehead but seemed to think better of it and let her hand wrap back around her coffee mug. “Temporary blindness on my part, I guess. And now you’re moving in together.” Instead of looking worried she looked somewhat bemused as she stared at Kara. “It’s going well for you two?”   
  
Kara nodded. “I think so at least,” she said modestly and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. “I’m just so happy when I’m with her.”    
  
“I noticed.” Alex didn’t roll her eyes but they did start a half-rotation before they fell back to their starting positions. “ _ Everybody _ noticed.”    
  
“Did they?”    
  
“I admit we were all dense about you and Lena but we aren’t blind. Between the two of you finding every excuse under the sun to go to the kitchen together and…” She pointed to the mirror on the opposite side of the kitchen like a flight attendant indicating where the plane’s emergency exits were. “We could see you.”    
  
Kara shut her eyes tight. “Oh, Rao…”   
  
“Now that I have a moment alone with you, we don’t need to have ‘the talk’ do we?”   
  
“A little late for that, I’m afraid.”    
  
“Mmm. This is my surprised face.” Alex took another sip of her coffee and gave Kara a nudge with her foot. “So…”   
  
“Don’t be gross.”   
  
“I think that’s up to you. And you can’t blame me for being a little curious.”   
  
“Without getting into the specifics… It’s amazing.” Kara took an all too large gulp of coffee that would have scalded her badly if she wasn’t Kryptonian. “Like  _ really  _ amazing.”    
  
“Well, you don’t need to rub it in.”   
  
“Rub what in?” Lena came padding into the kitchen, one hand pressed firmly against the side of her head. She was wearing an oversized MIT t-shirt and her hair was a mess of tangles that made it look like fauna that had gone untended too long and grown wild. She pulled a chair out from the table and winced when it scraped across the floor.    
  
“What an amazing girlfriend you are,” Kara answered.    
  
“Oh really?” Lena arched an eyebrow and smiled gratefully when Kara pushed a cup of coffee in front of her. She didn’t take it immediately and merely wrapped her hands around it like she was warming her hands close to a fire. “By all means, I could use something to focus on other than the world’s worst hangover.”   
  
“Maybe later,” Kara whispered, catching Lena’s eye and topping up Alex’s cup.    
  
“So is everyone sticking around for a while before you go off on your farewell tour?” Alex asked.   
  
“I was going to ask Sara about that, but I wanted to give her a little more time to sleep it off. I’ll give her a call though, there’s actually something that Lena and I wanted to do if we had the time…”    
  
Lena perked up a bit and grinned, “I think we can make time for that.”   
  
Kara nodded. “Let me go check, I’ll be right back.” She slid her chair out and seemed to vanish from the room. Both Lena and Alex were so used to Kara leaving the room like that that they both reached for the same pile of napkins stacked neatly in the center of the table to keep them from blowing away.    
  


Putting her commlink back in her ear, Kara checked the clock on the nightside table before tuning it to Sara’s frequency. “Sara? I’m not waking you up am I?”    
  
“No,” Sara answered after a few moments of silence. “I hold my liquor a little better than Ava. She’s still down for the count though, like everybody else on the ship. What’s up?”   
  
“Do you think we could stick around for another day or two?”   
  
“Lena’s hangover isn’t that bad, is it?”   
  
“No, not quite. If we had time though, we wanted to look at apartments. Lena’s place was destroyed and I sublet my place but Alex says the couple that’s there now really likes the place and I don’t want to kick them out.”    
  
“Apartment hunting with the missus then?”  
  
“Uh-huh,” Kara said, not bothering to correct Sara.    
  
“The team is going to need at least a day to recover from last night. If I don’t give them a proper vacation now and then they might stage a mutiny. You know, Kara, if you two want to stay, no one would be all that shocked. You two go around attached at the hip all the time.”   
  
“We’re just getting our ducks in a row for later,” Kara said, smiling to herself.   
  
“I suppose the ring shopping comes later.”   
  
“ _ Much  _ later. We’ve never even talked about it.”  _ Yet,  _ she thought.   
  
“You will,” Sara said confidently. “I’ll let everyone else know when they get up. Dinner tonight with everybody again?”   
  
“Definitely. Call us if anything comes up.”   
  
“Same. Happy hunting.”   
  


Returning to the kitchen far, far, slower than she had left it, Kara came to a stop just outside the kitchen, listening to the sound of Lena and Alex laughing. She had missed the punchline of whatever joke or anecdote that had been shared but was simply happy knowing that her two favorite people in the world were able to have so much fun together.    
  
When she stepped into the kitchen, Lena turned in her seat just enough to look in her direction. “Are we good to go?”   
  
Kara nodded. “All set. You might want to do something about your hair first.’   
  
“My hair?” Lena tried to run her fingers through it and got them caught in a snaggle. She made a grunting noise and stood up. “Shower,’” she mumbled, pecking Kara on the cheek and padded out of the room.   
  
“You two are going apartment hunting?” Alex raised an eyebrow and leaned across the table to grab Kara’s hand. “You picked a hell of a time to do it. There was a pretty big out-migration after the meteor shower. A lot of apartments were destroyed and a lot of people were happy to take the settlement that the city was willing to pay out instead of sticking around.” She shrugged. “Buyer’s market, although that would hardly have been an issue anyways…”   
  
Kara shook her head. “We don’t need a big place. Our rooms on the Waverider are a lot smaller than your guest room.” She took a sip of the little bit of coffee that remained in her cup and made a face when she realized it was lukewarm. “Lena doesn’t mind staying on the rent-controlled side of town.”   
  
“Penthouse, fixer-upper, wherever you end up it’s going to be a lot closer than the Temporal Zone which is all that matters.”    
  


* * *

  
  
The real estate agent that Lena had gotten a hold of hadn’t  _ exactly  _ rolled out the red carpet for them but she had a feeling that if the realtor had been able to get their hands on it, they would have gladly rolled it out in front of them. And while Lena seemed rather bored by the whole song and dance, Kara found it a tiny bit amusing.    
  
With the sheer number of new apartments that were built to either replace the ones destroyed in the meteor shower or new ones looking to lure in any new transplants to the city, the number of addresses that the realtor rattled off at them as he bustled ahead of them talking animatedly was staggering. He was a rather rotund man but was mind-bogglingly spry for both his age and weight, keeping ahead of them with relative ease, his overly coiffed hair seeming to defy gravity itself with the way it stood stock-still against his head while he jogged.    
  
“There’s a slew of new penthouses in the process of being built on High Street just up ahead. I wouldn’t normally show them to most of my clients. It would be a  _ little  _ bit out of their price range.” The slightly manic grin that he flashed them said that whatever it cost was more than a bit out of his normal clientele’s price range.    
  
“When we ask to see the places on the other side of town I think he might cry,” Lena hissed in her ear.    
  
Kara gave her a playful swat on the arm but secretly agreed. Maybe if Lena was looking for a place alone it would have been easy enough to sell her on one of the most (if not the most) expensive place in the city simply because she’d want to put an end to the whole thing but finding a place for the both of them was a completely different story.   
  
Not that Kara was completely against the idea of living in a penthouse but she was more concerned about finding something right for both of them. After being apart for so long, it would be the first thing that the two would be able to share that was completely their own.   
  
“The meteor shower did extensive damage to the buildings here but most of it was merely superficial, the building is completely up to code and the apartments were rebuilt  _ better  _ than new. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”   
  
“Laying it on a little thick,” Lena whispered right before they stepped into the elevator with him.   
  
“Maybe just a bit.”   
  
“What’s that?” the man asked.    
  
“A little bit cold today,” Kara said, returning his smile with a small one of her own.    
  


* * *

  
  
Upon entering the penthouse, Kara thought it was almost like a magic trick the way that the rather ordinary door opened up to such a sprawling living space. Her first thought was that whatever the penthouse cost, it had to be more than she could have made in working at CatCo for several decades. Her second was that it seemed like entirely too much house for her.  _ Even if we had a hundred kids… _ She found herself going red at the thought and looked up, pretending to study the vaulted ceiling.    
  
“I can give you two the tour or if you like-”   
  
Lena caught her eye before turning to the realtor. “If you don’t mind-”   
  
“Of course not!”   
  
“-we’ll look around a bit if you don’t mind waiting.”   
  
“Of course not. There’s a coffee shop just down the street. I’ll wait for you there. Whenever you two are done looking just give me a ring.”   
  
“Perfect,” Lena said and mustered a warm smile.   
  
“Before you go,” Kara said. “How much is this place going for?”   
  
“Wel, it’s priced to move so they’re asking for twenty million but I’m sure I can haggle them down a fair bit if it comes to that but just give me a call when you’re done.” He flashed a smile that seemed to show off too many teeth and shut the door behind him.    
  
“DOLLARS?!” Kara exclaimed the moment she heard the elevator doors close on the opposite side of the door.   
  
“That  _ is  _ how most people like to be paid,” Lena said, looking amused.    
  
“We can’t afford that.”   
  
“We  _ can.”  _ Lena giggled and pointed to herself. “At least I know that you’re not dating me for my money.”   
  
“I feel a little nervous even being in a place that’s so expensive.”   
  
“You’d get over it,” Lena teased. “But I’d prefer to find a place that clicks for us both and after being on the Waverider for so long, this feels a little ostentatious. But it has potential.” She kicked off her heels and walked over to the couch. When she sat down she patted the cushion beside her and shrugged off her coat revealing the purple blazer she had on underneath.    
  
Kara sat down next to her and smiled shyly when Lena’s arm slinked around her waist just as quick as can be. “I’ve seen the city from high up hundreds of times but this view really is nice.”    
  
“It is.” Lena grinned at her and put her head against Kara’s shoulder. “On the weekends, we might sit here and take in the view.” She gestured to the window with all the showmanship of a gameshow host revealing that day’s wonderful prizes. “Or we could get you a desk right by the window where you can write. And if the city needed Supergirl… Plenty of windows for you to make your exit.”    
  
“And what about you?”    
  
“Well, there’s more than enough room for two desks. I could work right next to you. There’s a lot of good I can do with L-Corp, even more so with you next to me… And if you need to go rescue a cat from a very tall tree, I’ll be right here waiting for you to get back.”   
  
“Right here?” Kara asked, patting the couch.   
  
“Here or in there,” Lena said and jerked her head towards the bedroom.  _ Maybe  _ in the kitchen. I guess we could take a cooking class. We’re not going to have a fabricator for much longer and I’d like to cook for you.”    
  
Kara felt her heart flutter in her chest and she quickly glanced around the room with her X-ray vision looking for any sign of a security camera, relieved when she found nothing and turned her attention towards Lena.   
  
“What’s with that look?”    
  
“What look?” Kara asked innocently.    
  
“Kara…”   
  
“Lena…” Kara replied. She flashed a rather mischievous looking grin before clambering on top of Lena, straddling her.   
  
“Here?” Lena asked, already unbuttoning the top button on her blouse.    
  
“Why not here?”   
  
“How philosophical.”   
  
Kara gazed transfixed at the agonizingly slow way that Lena undid the buttons on her blouse and began fumbling with her own shirt, pulling it over her head, dropping it to the floor with a bit of a flourish. “I could help you with that,” Kara suggested.   
  
“You could,” Lena agreed, “but I like teasing you too much and you remember what happened last time.”   
  
She did. Super speed had a vast number of benefits but stripping Lena out of her clothes before she had a chance to blink had only reduced her into a fit of laughter that was loud enough for Sara to bang on the walls to ask Lena to quiet down.    
  
Undoing the last button, Lena wriggled her body just enough to reveal the valley between her breasts and her flat white stomach. “Not that I’m complaining but what’s got you all hot and bothered?”   
  
“You,” Kara said as she unhooked her bra and dropped it on the floor to join her shirt. She reached down and cupped Lena’s hand delicately in her own, kissing her palm and guiding it to her chest. She let out a breathy moan when she felt Lena’s fingers trace along the gentle curves of her breast and leaned close to Lena’s ear, tracing her tongue along with the shell of her ear. “And the idea of domestic bliss with you gets me kind of hot.”    
  
That little confession coaxed a giggle out of Lena that faded away from the instant that Kara’s left hand began trailing along Lena’s stomach. Lena's breathing grew more shallow, her heart starting to race. She allowed it to drift lower before stopping abruptly.  “Kara…” Lena panted, unable to keep a note of impatience out of her voice.    
  
“You’re the one who wanted me to go slow,” Kara mumbled, nuzzling against Lena’s neck and kissing an untidy trail down to her collarbone.    
  
“Not  _ this  _ slow.” Lena let out a needy whine, spreading her legs wider.    
  
“You started it,” Kara reminded her.    
  
“The irony isn’t lost on me. Now take my pants off.”   
  
It was true that super speed was incapable of producing anything akin to romance in the bedroom, it did do wonders for the almost palpable level of desire that always seemed capable of springing up without warning when the two were together. One moment the two were half-clothed and the next they were both naked, clinging to one another, their lips crashing together.    
  
Kara felt Lena’s tongue slip into her mouth and then entwine with her own, their hands finding one another, their fingers interlocking for a brief moment before Kara guided Lena’s hand between her legs, her back arching and a moan spilling from Kara’s lips when she felt Lena’s fingers brush against her folds. She rocked her hips ever so slightly, nipping Lena’s bottom lip just hard enough to send a shiver down Lena’s spine, loving the way it sent Lena’s already rapidly beating heart aflutter.    
  
She dipped her hand between Lena’s legs, shuddering a bit when she saw Lena spread them a bit wider for her. The two of them moved together, almost mirror images of one another as a string of expletives flew out of Kara’s mouth, her chest rising and falling as she curved her fingers ever so slightly, relishing the slick tightness of Lena’s sex.    
  
“Oh God, Kara…”    
  
Lena’s hips bucked greedily and Kara peppered another salvo of kisses down Lena’s neck, all the way down to her chest. She kissed the tops of her breasts before Kara circled her tongue around the areola of one of Lena’s breasts, listening to the tightening of her muscles, the way the sound of her breathing seemed to hang in the air like a thick fog.    
  
One thing that Kara had learned after being with Lena was that the odds of them finishing together while not astronomical was akin to getting a tie while racing. They  _ did  _ happen but not very rarely. Photo finishes on the other hand were far more common which the two had become intimately familiar with in their time together.    
  
Their pace began to ramp up, both of them climbing towards a crescendo and Kara knew that Lena would beat her there by seconds. She could feel the changes in her breathing, hear the way her muscles tightened in preparation for what was to come, and instead of trying to put on a last burst of speed she allowed Lena to pull ahead, pressing her thumb against Lena’s clit, her thrusts becoming more deliberate until Lena cried out, her hips bucking harder, more frantically until she slowed, her free arm draping itself around Kara’s neck. She let Lena ride that wave until it had returned to the ocean and had to bite back a loud moan when Lena re-doubled her efforts.    
  
“I love you,” Lena whispered, her voice huskier than it normally was, her fingers working in a steady rhythm that ended so abruptly that Kara let out a whine of her own that Lena silenced with a soft finger against her lips.    
  
Sliding off the couch, Lena dropped to her knees and coaxed Kara’s legs apart. She looked up at Kara, kissing an uneven trail of kisses along her inner thighs. Their eyes met and Kara opened her mouth to tell Lena just how much she loved her when her tongue made its first pass against her folds and all that came out was a cry of pleasure.    
  


* * *

  
“So how did the apartment hunting go?” Sara asked, leaning in the doorway of Kara’s room aboard the Waverider.   
  
Kara jumped, put a hand to her chest, and held up the change of clothes she had pulled from her closet in front of her.    
  
“Did you not hear me coming down the hall?” Sara asked, looking amused.    
  
“I was thinking about something and to be fair you walk  _ really  _ quiet. And why can’t I hear your heartbeat?”   
  
“Assassin,” she shrugged, “and I know,” she said guiltily. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve scared Ava half to death we’d be retired someplace sunny by now. But part of the blame has to be on all those serial killer podcasts she listens to before bed. Makes her jumpy among other things…”    
  
“It went  _ very  _ good,” Kara said, shutting her closet deliberately and staring at the closed doors for a few seconds more than she had to in an effort to let some of the color disappear from her cheeks. “A few for the maybe pile. We were actually thinking of telling the rest of the team tonight... Lena really doesn’t want to keep it from them too long.”    
  
“Not a bad idea. Zari’s already starting to suspect that something’s going on. She’s betting on a wedding. I almost took her up on it but I felt a little guilty cheating.”    
  
“Captain Lance, I’m sorry to interrupt but I’ve finished combing over the data in Miss Luthor’s Chronos device.”   
  
“And did you figure out just where in the timeline Lillian was hiding out for so long?”    
  
“Yes and no,” Gideon said. “Miss Luthor thought it might have been a malfunction in her tracking software or my programming… The reason we weren’t able to trace her until she tried to alter the timeline in 1997 is that she wasn’t anywhere in the timeline.”   
  
“Does that mean she was in the Temporal Zone?” Kara asked.   
  
“No,” Sara answered. “The Temporal Zone isn’t all that friendly unless you’re in a time ship. Where was she, Gideon?”   
  
“Several places. Or, perhaps more appropriately, several Earths.”   
  
“Earths? Plural?” Kara looked confused for a moment, comprehension dawning on her face. “Shit.”   
  
“Gideon, get me a list of everywhere Lillian has been and call the team down to the bridge, we’re going to have to take a raincheck on dinner.”   
  
“Lena’s comm is off, I’m going to go get her,” Kara said, quickly speeding past Sara and out of the ship.   
  


* * *

  
  
The realtor would have likely been happy to waltz the both of them around throughout the night if it meant he would have locked down a sale. Lena admired his persistence but a combination of having to listen to the same song and dance all day and her and Kara’s  _ interlude  _ in the penthouse he had shown them earlier in the day had sapped her of much of her energy.  Instead of returning to the Waverider with Kara, she had elected to stay in and put her feet up. She had just been debating going upstairs to grab her comm when there was a knock at the door. Knowing it had to be Kara, she got up from the comfortable sitting position she had been in and undid the thumb latch.  
  


“Kara? I thought you went back to the Waverider for a change of clothes. Please don’t tell me you’re planning on wearing that to dinner,” she said and pointed at Kara’s Supergirl suit.  
  
"You don't like it?"  
  
"You know I like it," Lena said, cupping Kara's cheek lovingly. "But if we're going to be eating..." she trailed off suddenly her hand falling back to her side.  
  
"What's wrong?" Kara asked, tilting her head a bit to get a better look at Lena.  
  
"Nothing. Just _really_ hungry. Let me just grab my purse and we can head out."  
  
"Take your time." Kara smiled sweetly and made a little shooing gesture with her left hand.  
  
Lena was halfway down the hall to Alex's spare room before Kara appeared in front of her so quickly that Lena walked into her, colliding somewhat painfully with her and teetering on her heels before falling backward. She felt Kara's arm slip around the small of her back as she caught her before she had a chance to hit the ground. "Kara..."  
  
"You're a good liar, Lena but I heard your heart skip a beat." Her smile widened into a confident grin that was very nearly a leer.  
  
"You're not my Kara," Lena spat. "Who are you?"  
  
"No," Kara said flatly. "And you're not my Lena. Although the similarities really are uncanny." She smiled somewhat sadly. "You might want to hang on..."  
  
Lena felt her feet leave the ground completely, heard wind whipping in her ears, and when she opened her eyes she was surprised to find both her and not Kara floating high above the city. "Are you going to kill me?"  
  
"That pretty face? Not in a million years, but I am going to drop you. It would really help me out if you scream really loud." She flashed Lena that same wide grin and dropped her.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I blinked and it was September. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. As always, thanks for reading ^^


	17. Ultimatum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Kiss me each morning for a million years  
>  Hold me each evening by your side  
> Tell me you love me for a million, a million years  
> Then if it don't work out  
> Then If it don't work out  
> Then you can tell me goodbye..."_
> 
> -Bettye Swann 'Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye

The bottom had fallen out of the world and Lena found herself falling to Earth. Plummeting seemed to better capture the feeling of just how quickly she was approaching the ground. The instinct to scream was so overwhelming that she found her mouth opening even while she tried her best to keep it closed. It was a trap. Not for her but for Kara and she would not be the one to spring it. She would not be bait. She wouldn’t endanger Kara’s life even if it cost Lena her own. _I love you, Kara._   
  
“Now you’re just being difficult.”   
  
Lena found her once again in the arms of Kara’s impostor, hovering just ten feet shy of the ground below. There was a great crashing sound that Lena knew was a sonic boom and Lena was suddenly looking down from incredibly high up in the air with the buildings down below looking lilliputian.   
  
“You’re not going to scream for me? Funny. My Lena screams for me all the time.” She grinned at Lena, the smile fading quickly.   
  
“I don’t know what you want with Kara but I won’t help you hurt her.”   
  
“Smart as a whip, aren’t you?” She gave an exasperated shrug, her shoulders sagging a bit. “And super fucking stubborn.” She leaned closer to Lena so that their faces were almost touching. “You really do remind me of my Lena. But if dropping you isn’t going to make you scream…” Her eyes lit up red and she turned her gaze to the city below. “How about this? You scream for _your_ Kara or I make everyone down in the city scream for her? Your call.”   
  
“Don’t! I’ll scream. Just don’t hurt anyone.”   
  
“Good girl. Did you still want me to drop you, or?”   
  
_I’m sorry, Kara…_ Lena took one last look at Kara’s imposter before she wiggled free from her grip, only succeeding because she _let_ Lena wiggle free and immediately began falling. Kara’s imposter had forced her hand and while the possibility of just such a situation had crossed her mind she still hadn’t had time to formulate anything more than a very rough plan. _Been a Legend too long,_ she thought. She had grown too comfortable in just making things up as she went along instead of the usual meticulous level of planning that she applied to other aspects of her life.

She angled her body towards the ground, pulling her arms close to her, falling even faster, the wind rushing past her drowning out all other sounds. Only when she could begin to make out scant details on the ground down below did she finally open her mouth to yell.   
  
“KARA!”   
  
Over the roar of the wind, her voice hardly seemed to carry at all, dragged down with Lena as she fell but she knew that Kara would hear her, knew that she would save her. She fell for another moment or two and felt the world suddenly right itself. Up was up and down was down and Kara, _her_ Kara was holding her in a bridal carry looking daggers up at her exact double as she floated down to a nearby rooftop.   
  
“Very nice catch.” Kara’s double floated down, bringing her hands together, maybe to start clapping but let them fall to her side.   
  
“Who are you?” Kara spat, her eyes glowing red as she turned her body in an effort to shield as much of Lena as she could before setting her down and stepping in front of her.   
  
“You. Obviously.” She spun around, her cape billowing out behind her, and only then seemed to notice that Kara’s eyes were glowing, looking more amused than anything else. “From a different Earth. Our Big Belly Burger is on the other side of town,” she said pointing down below as if the three of them were having a pleasant albeit meaningless conversation. "And the skyline is a lot different, but that might just be the angle."   
  
_Another Earth?_ Lena expected to see the same look of surprise on Kara’s face that was on hers and was shocked to see that Kara didn’t appear phased in the slightest.   
  
“Now that you're here though, we can finally chat. I needed to talk with both of you and this seemed the quickest way to do it or it would have been if Lena hadn’t been so stubborn…” She wagged her finger and looked almost proud before she turned her attention to Kara, her face all-business. “I need the Waverider."  
  
“How do you know about the Waverider?” Kara asked. “Did Lillian-”   
  
“It was the other Kara’s turn for her eyes to turn that deadly shade of crimson, barely restrained power rippling in those normally tranquil pools of blue. Her hands that had been at her sides clenched into fists and she took a menacing step towards them that made Kara push Lena completely behind her so that Lena had to peek out over her shoulder. “If you say that name again I’ll burn your city to ashes.” She blinked and wrestled back control of herself again. Her eyes returned to normal and her gaze flickered away to Lena before returning to Kara.   
  
“Why do you want the Waverider?” Lena asked.  
  
“To fix something that never should have happened,” she said bitterly, pacing like a caged tiger. “That’s all.”   
  
“You can’t. You can’t just go back and change the past. The damage you could do…” Lena shook her head. “Catastrophic doesn’t even begin to cover it. Like cosmic dominos falling on top of each other. You might come back to nothing. Time is _fragile._ More than you could possibly imagine."   
  
“I know.” The other Kara gave a halfhearted shrug. “Just like I know that you’ll never just let me _take_ your ship. I’m sure trying to convince you would be like talking to a brick wall,” she said, looking almost sorry for Kara. “But I’m not asking you, I’m asking Lena.”   
  
“I would never-”   
  
“No need to speak so hastily…”   
  
The next moment happened far too fast for Lena to see. She felt Kara give her a gentle push that sent her skidding a few feet back, nearly losing her balance in the process. She looked up and saw the two tangled together, mirror images of one another as they grappled with each other. Lena had expected this. What she hadn’t expected was seeing Kara’s double pull a glittering green stone from her suit with all the flourish of a magician doing a well-practiced sleight of hand.   
  
“I told you not to be so hasty.” She held the stone out to better show Lena before holding it flush against Kara’s chest and seeming to relish in the scream that the stone coaxed from Kara’s lips. “I don’t want to kill you Lena but that kindness doesn’t extend to her.” 

“Please don’t hurt her,” Lena begged. She felt utterly helpless, falling to her knees and scrabbling closer to Kara taking her hand and clasping it tightly in both of hers.   
  
“I don’t want to kill her either. She’s my bargaining chip. You give me your ship and you get Kara back. Unharmed.” She held a hand up as if to swear and let it drop without even trying, likely knowing how hollow such a thing would appear coming from her. “I’ll even give you the ship back when I’m done with it.”   
  
“It’s not that simple,” Lena said. She glanced up quickly before returning her gaze to Kara, a tear falling down her face and falling onto Kara’s cheek where protruding green veins had begun to appear.

“It is simple. The world or Kara.” She leaned down and threw Kara over her shoulder with ease. “I’ll give you a few days to decide. It really shouldn’t be a hard decision,” she said reproachfully, wagging her finger again.  
  
It wasn’t and Lena was almost certain that Kara’s double saw that truth on her face. For Lena, the scales would never ever balance when it was Kara sitting on one side of them. If she had to make a choice now it would be Kara, it would always be Kara, but she had been given time. There was still a chance that she could have the girl without damning the entire world to an unknown fate.   
  
“Promise me,” Lena said, standing up. “Promise me that you won’t hurt her.”   
  
Kara's double turned back to look at Lena, an inquisitive look on her face. “Would you trust me if I did?”   
  
“Yes… I would. You didn’t want to kill me and I don’t think you want to hurt me either,” she said defiantly. “So promise me that you won’t hurt her.”   
  
Kara’s double laughed, the smug smile replaced with one that looked far less menacing. “I promise,” she said in a voice that reminded Lena much more of _her_ Kara. “Three days. If you don’t need that much time, just scream real loud for me, I’ll hear you.”   
  
“Why doesn’t the kryptonite affect you like it does Kara?” _My Kara..._   
  
“It does.” She had already risen several feet in the air and floated closer to Lena to show a number of green veins protruding from her skin that looked as if they were climbing up her neck like ivy on a trellis. “My world is not as kind as yours, I’m afraid.” She cast out a look over the city that Lena wasn’t sure was one of longing or of pity. “I’ve just built up a tolerance to it.” She stuck out an arm and stared at a clutch of green veins that snaked up her hand. “I hardly even feel it anymore.” She rose a few more feet into the air. “If you tried to use kryptonite on me, you’d only end up hurting her.” She flew straight up into the air where Lena watched her grow smaller and smaller before disappearing completely into the sky

* * *

  
  
Everything that Lena did after calling Sara on her comms felt oddly mechanical. Her mind hadn’t been able to process everything that had happened. It would have made such a tidy nightmare. It had all the elements that would have woken her from her sleep in a cold sweat. And would it have made her scream? Yes, probably it would. But it wasn’t a dream and each time that she was forced to retell what had happened, that truth became all the more difficult to deny.   
  
Seeing Alex sitting in Kara’s seat on the Waverider was the most jarring thing of all. It had only been an hour or so ago that the two of them had been trading stories about what had been going on since the last time they had seen one another and now here they were looking at a holographic display of several Earths. In the center was their own and surrounding it were dozens of other Earths. All of them different in one way or another and all places that Lillian had visited before finally trying to kill Lena.   
  
“So,” Alex said, still staring down at her lap, not looking around at anybody. “The woman who kidnapped Kara is from one of these Earths?“

“Gideon’s narrowing down exactly which one but it’s going to take her more time…”  
  
“Unfortunately, Miss Danvers, I am far more adept at scanning alternate timelines rather than other Earths but I am working as fast as I can.”   
  
“Ray and Nate will be back soon with Lillian. Maybe we can get some answers from her,” Sara said, looking just as lost as everyone else gathered on the bridge.   
  
The worry lines along Lena’s forehead deepened and she remained silent. There was no doubt in Lena’s mind that Lillian was connected but she was skeptical that they would learn anything truly useful. This time, at least, Lillian didn’t seem to be the puppeteer. Remembering the other Kara’s rage at the mere mention of Lillian’s name, the probability of the two of them working together seemed improbable.   
  
“I don’t understand how Lillian even got to another Earth,” Alex said. “I thought the device she took from Lena was a time travel device?”   
  
“It was,” Lena said. “A very rudimentary one too, but the science is similar. If I had to guess, she found a way to integrate that with the transmatter portal tech that Lex was so fond of.” She didn’t much care about how. All that mattered to her was that Kara was in danger and that she still had not come up with a way to stop her.   
  
“We’ve done it once,” Sara said. “Accidentally, of course. It feels like half the things we do on this ship are accidents. Once Gideon finds the Earth the other Kara hails from. We’ll be able to poke around a bit, maybe find a weakness that we can exploit. Especially if what Lena said is true and kryptonite is a no go.”

 _No,_ Lena thought, _it wouldn’t work._ Even if that Kara had been bluffing about building up her tolerance to it, which Lena didn’t think she was, the risk was too great.   
  
“What are the chances we could take her in a fight?” Zari asked. “If it came to that?”   
  
Lena exchanged a look with Alex and quickly shook her head. “Even taking our Kara out of the equation entirely. All of us against her double? Razor-thin, maybe impossible. Without a weakness to Kryptonite, there isn’t much we can do. And if she has no qualms about killing…”   
  
“Got it,” Zari said, immediately falling silent, looking as if she regretted even asking the question in the first place. “We’ll call that Plan Z,” she muttered.   
  
“I’m going to go back over the data that Gideon analyzed from the Chronos device. See if I can find anything that might help us narrow down where to start looking.” It would have been sheer hubris on Lena’s part to think that she could go over all that data before Gideon could but in this case it was merely desperation. She needed to do _something._

  
Lena was halfway to the lab, so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear Sara calling for her, only turning around when her hand closed over Lena’s wrist.

“We will get her back. I promise, Lena.”  
  
“I know,” Lena said, unable to imagine any other outcome. They _would_ get Kara back, Lena just wasn’t sure what it would cost them.   
  
“We still have three days to come up with something. Plenty of time. You know us. Legends work best under pressure. She took Kara hostage and gave us time to think which must mean she wants something. Did she say anything about a ransom? Anything?”   
  
“No,” Lena lied, not shying away from Sara’s questioning gaze, hating herself that such a thing came so naturally to her. “Nothing.” 

“She’ll get in touch,” Sara assured her. “Until then, we’ll do everything we can to prepare. Wouldn’t be a fight if we weren’t the underdogs.” She managed a small smile and gave Lena’s hand a very firm squeeze. “Ava and I are going to take the jump ship, see if we can find any trace of Kara in the city. Stay in touch.”  
  
“I will,” Lena said. “You too.”   
  
She watched Sara jog back the way she came, very glad that she didn’t turn around. If she had, she would have seen that Lena was crying.   
  


* * *

  
Kara had woken up with a pounding headache and with only the vaguest memories of what had happened between saving Lena and waking up in the tiny cell she found herself in. There were fragments, bits and pieces of memory that when pieced together were like a flipbook. The glimpses were brief and were far from the complete picture but it was enough. She had been taken prisoner. Herself from another Earth was responsible and the cell she was in was lined with Kryptonite emitters that were strong enough to render her weak but not enough to make her sick. 

“You’re awake already? Aren’t you a tough cookie?”   
  
“Where’s Lena?” Kara forced herself to sit up and felt another wave of nausea wash over her like a strong breaker.   
  
“I have no idea.” Kara’s double shrugged. “Safe though, I’m sure. I certainly didn’t do anything to her. I would never hurt her.” Her expression turned cold and she took a few steps closer to the cell. “Do you really think I would hurt Lena?”   
  
“You nearly killed her!”   
  
“I knew you’d come. She was never in any real danger and neither are you.” She pointed to the cell. “The kryptonite emitters are just a precaution. I can’t have you escaping. They shouldn’t actually hurt you, although it’s hard to calibrate them correctly. That level would barely even make my skin itch.”   
  
“Lena won’t give you what you want. She knows the consequences, the risks…” Kara shook her head. “If you want to kill me-”   
  
“I’m sure she does, but that doesn’t mean she won’t give me the Waverider.” She sighed and fixed Kara with a look of extreme pity. “I haven’t explored your Earth all that well… But it doesn’t look all that different than mine… Not anymore, of course,” she said, trailing off. “You’ll regret that bleeding heart of yours someday.” 

  
Kara’s headache would likely keep her company for another day but the nausea at least had begun to pass and Kara sat up off the small bed she was sitting on and crossed the length of the cell on unsteady legs, looking at herself through the bars. It felt strange to see someone that looked so similar and yet so very different. Physically they were identical but even standing so close to her, it wasn’t at all like looking at her reflection. It reminded Kara more of looking at a distorted image on the surface of a lake. It was still Kara but it had been contorted in such a way that when comparing the two, they were far more different than they were similar.   
  
“What happened on your Earth? Why do you want the Waverider?” Strangely enough, Kara was seized with the desire to reach through the bars and grasp her double’s hand. _What would she do if I did that?_ Kara wondered.   
  
“I was foolish,” she said simply and Kara was shocked to see tears swim in her double’s eyes. “I was like you.” Again she fixed Kara with that scathing look as if she had stepped on something awful and realized so just a second too late. “If the positions were reversed, Kara. If I had taken Lena hostage instead of you. What would your decision be? Keep the world safe or save Lena? Or would you insist that you could save-”   
  
“Lena. I would choose Lena.”   
  
Kara's double had obviously not expected Kara to answer that way or so quickly because the shock showed clearly on her face and she made no attempt to hide it or rather she couldn't.  
  
She should have felt guilty at the ease the answer sprang to her lips and she might have if the question had merely been a hypothetical one. She had already been confronted with such a choice and the answer had come to her just as quickly then.   
  
_Save the chemicals, not me!_   
  
How vivid that memory was still. How selfless Lena had been and how sure Kara had been in her decision... She should have known then that she was in love and she supposed that she had known but she had somehow been able to convince herself that she loved Lena, not that she was _in_ love with her. It seemed especially foolish now when it felt to Kara like they had reached a crossroads. Not one that the two had come to naturally but one that had been forced on them. One where they could continue on as they had been. Happy and together, towards the nearest thing to a happy ending as anyone could expect and another road where the two would lose one another.   
  
“I envy you.”   
  
Kara looked up startled out of her own thoughts and found herself staring at nothing but an empty room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and that everyone is staying healthy and safe. 
> 
> If you want to say hi or want to shoot prompts my way come bother me here: inkedroplets.tumblr.com/


	18. Mon Cœur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"How can I go on dear without you?  
>  You took the part  
> That once was my heart  
> So why not take all of me?"_
> 
> -Billie Holiday 'All of Me'

Working through emotional turmoil was something of a specialty for Lena. It was perhaps the one thing that she had learned being raised as a Luthor that she was the tiniest bit grateful for. But pushing her feelings down into tiny, itty-bitty boxes didn’t work for her when it came to Kara. She simply loved her too much. 

While she worked she found herself glancing at the empty chair to her left, the same one that Kara often sat in while she worked, leaning over Lena’s shoulder and watching her, so interested in Lena’s work that Lena often found herself blushing.  _ I just wish you were here now,  _ she thought, looking at the raw data extracted from the Chronos device, looking for a thread that she wasn’t sure even existed.    
  
“Lena…”    
  
Lena turned around expectantly, her face falling slightly when she realized that it was Alex that had called her name and not Kara. “Alex…”

  
“Hey,” she said in a small voice that Lena was not at all used to hearing. “I called J’onn and the others. They’re all out looking for Kara. I told them not to engage if they do find her,” she said quickly when she saw how alarmed Lena looked. “They want to help.”   
  
“I know they do, Alex. I just… It’s dangerous.”    
  
“Do you really think that she would hurt them? Hurt  _ us _ ? Different Earth or not, it’s still Kara…”   
  
Remembering how quickly the other Kara had been threatening to burn National City to the ground and how Lena had seen no trace of a lie on her face when she had said it.  _ Me? No, I don’t think she would,  _ Lena thought.  _ Everybody else? I think to get what she wanted she would. In a heartbeat.  _ “I think that we should be as careful as we can until we know more about that Kara and her Earth.”   
  
“I just don’t understand what she would want with Kara. You don’t think-”   
  
“I'm sure that Kara’s fine,” Lena assured her, wishing that she felt as sure about that as she sounded. “I promise you, Alex. I’ll get her back.”   
  
“We both will. You’re not alone, Lena.”   
  
“I know,” she said and summoned with some effort, a small watery smile.  _ But I need to do this part alone. Maybe all of it.  _ She slid the tablet she was working on closer to Alex, feeling a pang of familiarity as she did. There had been so many hours she and Kara spent together in the lab with Lena tinkering with some bit of tech while Kara asked her questions looking over her shoulder or sometimes offering Lena a solution to a particularly stubborn roadblock with ease that Lena both envied and treasured.   
  
“I’m working on the assumption that the Kara from another Earth traveled from her National City to this one. If she did, there should be an energy signature left behind from Lex’s transmatter portal opening here. Temporarily at least. If I can locate it, Gideon and I should be able to trace it back to its point of origin.”   
  
“Like a back-hack?” Alex asked.    
  
“Essentially.” It was a lot more complicated than that, of course, but Alex had gotten the gist of it and even Lena was working at least partially in the dark. Kara was the only one to have been truly unphased at the concept of there being more than one Earth. “Right now, we know next to nothing. We need more information if we want to formulate a plan.” Lena’s thoughts turned inward and she remembered what the other Kara had told her before flying away...   
  
_ Just scream real loud for me, I’ll hear you. _ _  
_ _  
_ “I need to go to L-Corp,” Lena said suddenly, setting the tablet she was working on down on the lab table.   
  
“What for?”    
  
_ Insurance,  _ Lena thought.  _ If the other Kara wants the Waverider, it will be safer traveling by using the Chronos device.  _ “I need to make some tweaks to this,” she said and held the device out to Alex. “Make it safer, for one, and then calibrate it to travel to other Earths instead of through time.”

  
“Can you do that?” Alex asked, sounding skeptical.   
  
“Of course I can,” Lena said and a genuine smile flitted across her face for one brief moment. “It’s my science, my tech. I already know it can be done, it’s almost like cheating at this point but I need Lex’s research as well.” Even with him long dead, using his technology felt a bit to Lena like making a deal with the devil.    
  
“I wish I could help you, Lena, I do… This is more Kara’s speed.” Alex pressed a thumb against her temple and took a deep breath, steadying herself in a way that reminded Lena so very much of herself. “But I can feel sorry for myself after we rescue Kara. Before you go to L-Corp I need you to drop me off at the DEO so I can coordinate everybody’s search efforts from there, make sure that they’re not covering the same ground.”   
  
“You focus on finding her Alex and I’ll find a way to save her,”  _ I promise. _   


* * *

Left alone, Kara had spent what must have been nearly two hours going over every inch of her cell, examining the room she was in, trying to ignore the greenish tint that everything in the room took on thanks to the kryptonite emitters on the wall of her cell.  Paradoxically she had chosen to sit against the wall closest to the kryptonite emitters. It made her head ache painfully and her temples throb with frightening regularity but after what Kara was almost certain was an hour, the side effects had begun to lessen. The nausea was still there and the pain in her head sometimes flared now and again in time with the beat of her heart but it was improving.  _ What was that called here on Earth? Mithridatism?  _ She couldn’t quite recall but that certainly sounded right to her ears. 

“Hungry?”   
  
Kara looked up to see her other-Earth counterpart standing in the doorway holding a sack of Big Belly Burger in one hand. “Not particularly,” she lied, willing her body not to react. Rao knew how many times she had ruined a romantic moment with Lena by having her stomach start growling.    
  
She gave the sack of Big Belly Burger clenched in her hand an enticing shake. “You’ve been in here all day. I’d be starving by now if I were you.”   
  
“But you’re not me,” Kara said coldly.    
  
“No, I’m not, but if you don’t eat, Lena’s going to think that I broke my promise.” She stepped closer to the cell and unlocked the door, setting the bag down on the floor, giving it a small nudge with her foot before locking the door again. She sighed and began to pace. “You’re really being unreasonably stubborn.”   
  
“You did take me, prisoner,” Kara said testily. “Sorry if I don’t have much of an appetite.”   
  
“Fair enough,” she agreed. “But you and I both know you’re going to need to eat eventually and if I were you-”   
  
“You’re not me!” Kara shouted.   
  
“But if I were,” Kara’s double continued unperturbed at Kara’s outburst. “I would eat that before it gets cold. If Lena thinks I haven’t been feeding you-”   
  
“Why do you care so much what Lena thinks of you?”   
  
“I don’t,” she said flatly.   
  
“You do.” It was far from accusatory, merely Kara stating a fact that she understood the why better than anyone else. “If I eat will you answer some of my questions?”   
  
Kara’s double stared stonily back at her, her eyes slightly narrowed as if trying to suss out what must obviously be some kind of ploy. “You know I could just lie, right?”   
  
“I suppose you could, yes. Do we have a deal or not?”

“We have a deal if you don’t try and ask me any questions about Lena. You do and no more food until our transaction is complete.”   
  
“Then we have a deal,” Kara said in a small voice.  _ What happened to your Lena? Is she even your Lena there?  _

“Eat.”   
  
Kara stood up and snatched the bag up off of the ground before turning to the same corner of the cell she had been sitting in, reaching her hand in and pulling out a burger. She unwrapped it, took an overly large bite, and proceeded to chew methodically, not breaking eye contact with her exact double while she did.    
  
“No table manners on your Earth,” she muttered.   
  
“You said that our Earths  _ were  _ similar.  Do you live in National City on your Earth?"  
  
"I did," she replied. "Not anymore. No one lives there now. It's nothing more than a crumbling ruin."  
  
"Who would want to destroy the entire city?"  
  
“Our Earths aren’t  _ that  _ different, Kara. Surely you must have some idea oh who would want to destroy Supergirl's home..."   
  
"Lex..."   
  
“Yes, Lex.” Her hands that had been hanging loose at her sides clenched into fists. “Yours is dead, is he not? That’s the second smartest thing you could have done, Kara. The first would have been making sure that his mother shares the same fate. Tell me, when you killed him, did he beg for his life like the one on my Earth did?”   
  
Kara’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “The Lex on this Earth  _ is  _ dead,” she said, “but I’m not the one who killed him.” She bit her lip, tearing a bit of bun off her burger and shredding it nervously between her fingers. “Lena killed him.”   
  
“Lena? Please don’t tell me that you hid behind that self-righteous attitude of yours and made Lena do your dirty work,” she spat.   
  
“I didn’t know,” Kara said, her jaw set, hardly aware that she had gotten to her feet. “If I had known that he was alive. We were fighting and he fell. He refused my help. If I had known I would have-”   
  
“What, Kara? What would you have done?” Her eyes narrowed. “Thrown him into a prison that would have been at best a mild annoyance to him until he found a way to wriggle out again and cause more pain and more death? Walk around with a target on your back and let everyone in your life get caught in the crossfire? Vow to catch him again when that happened ad nauseam?”   
  
“I-”   
  
“It’s what I would have done,” she said. “It’s what I  _ did. _ ” She took a breath, glancing behind her. “Because that’s what Kara Zor-El was supposed to do, supposed to be. A hero,” she said in a tone dripping with revulsion. “And in the end, I wasn’t a hero and Kara Danvers… She lost nearly everything.”    
  
“I’m sorry,” Kara said. “I’m so sorry.” She threaded one arm through the gap in the bars and reached for her double’s arm, to grasp it, to offer her comfort? It was all she could think to do regardless of her current situation. Kara’s fingertips brushed against her double’s wrist before she yanked it back, stepping away from the bars.    
  
“I don’t need your apologies. I can fix it.”    
  
“At what cost?” Kara withdrew her hand, gripping one of the bars, feeling the slightest give, and heard an infinitesimal whine from the metal.  _ It’s working _ , she thought, praying that her double hadn’t heard, didn’t suspect…    
  
“I don’t care,” she said simply. “Whatever the cost is, I’ll pay it. For her…” She opened her mouth again to speak when her head tilted slightly to the left. “Your Lena wants to speak with me.” She smiled. “I knew she wouldn’t keep me waiting long.”    
  
“Wait!” Kara once again reached through the bars, her hand sliding through, her fist closing around nothing but air. She was gone.    
  
_ Lena… What are you planning?”  _ Pushing her worry aside, moving forcibly past it, trusting that whatever Lena’s plan was that she would be fine, she slid her arm free from the bars again. Taking a deep breath she walked to the place in her cell furthest from the kryptonite emitters, gripped one of the bars as tightly as she could, and began to pull.   
  


* * *

There had been no shortage of research that Lex had left behind for Lena to discover when she had taken over Luthor-Corp and diverted it back to the path it should always have been on. There had been an evening she had devoted to thumbing through it, to look for any projects that she could possibly salvage. After an hour though, she had all but given up. Each and every project, every invention that Lex had devoted his time to had been made with the express purpose of hurting others. It was that knowledge that had gone a long way in her coming to terms with the fact that she had been the one to kill him.    
  
His transmatter portal technology was the exception, however. Lex, of course, had squandered its potential,  _ perverted  _ it into nothing more than a quick get-out-of-jail-free card for him to abuse but it had nearly limitless potential for good. Nearly all of his inventions did if one looked hard enough.  _ You could have been a good man in another life,”  _ Lena thought as she tapped away at the small screen that had been hidden behind a panel in her office wall.    
  
“Gideon? I’m sending you a file now. I need you to scan for any incompatibilities between the transmatter portal tech and my time travel device. We have enough on our plate right now and I don’t want anyone stuck on another Earth when we go poking around.”   
  
“I would need to stop my scan of the different Earths that the other Miss Luthor has visited.”   
  
“Do it. I’ll take over once I’m back on the ship.”   
  
“Just in time to swoop in and steal credit,” Gideon snarked.    
  
“You can have all the credit this time around, Gideon. I just want my girlfriend back.”   
  
“As do I. I promise that I’m doing everything I can to ensure that happens.”   
  
“I know you are, Gideon. I’ll be a bit longer, I’ll contact you again when I’m ready to be picked up.”  _ I need to do everything I can too…  _ she thought. Lena stepped out onto the balcony and switched her comm off. Looking up at a sky that was a steely grey, she took a breath and exhaled.    
  
“We need to talk,” she yelled. Again it felt like her voice had been gobbled up before it had really gone anywhere but when she turned around she heard the light patter of feet touching down behind her and the flutter of a cape.    
  
“I told you that I would hear you. Have you made up your mind? We could have avoided the whole kryptonite thing if you weren’t so stubborn. But look who I’m talking to.”   
  
“You don’t know me,” Lena said, looking out over the city. It hadn’t taken her long at all to come to terms with the idea that there were other Earths than her own but her heart it seemed was still playing catch up. “I need to know that you didn’t hurt her.”   
  
“I already promised you I wouldn't.”    
  
“I know you did but I’ve never taken much stock in verbal agreements at least not with someone I’ve just met.” 

“We might be strangers Lena but I’m still Kara. Maybe not yours but pretty damn close.”   
  
Lena whipped around and for one brief instant, it was hard for her to refute that claim. The differences were so small that the only reason Lena could even notice them in the first place was because of how intimately she knew Kara. It was those differences that she forced herself to focus on. How this Kara stood favoring her left side, how she had a tendency to smirk instead of smile and that she didn't feel the same warmth being near her like she did with her Kara. Reminding herself of that t made her heart ache a little less when she looked at her. 

  
“The Kara I know would never threaten to burn a city to the ground to get her point across.” However true that may have been, Lena still regretted that she said it when she saw the pained expression cross the woman’s face. 

“Lucky her,” she said coolly.   
  
“I’m sorry,” Lena said. “I didn’t mean to-”   
  
“You didn’t say anything untrue.” She exhaled loudly. “What is it that they say, Lena? Absence makes the heart grow fonder? You want to see her again, you know how to do it.”    
  
Lena wasn’t surprised when Kara’s double flew off and while she might have been able to coax her back, she made no attempt to. She flipped her comm back on once she was completely sure that she had really gone.   
  
“Gideon?”   
  
“Miss Luthor. I take it you’re ready to be picked up?”   
  
“I am, but first I want you to scan the area I’m in for any trace of unknown energy signatures.”   
  
“You don’t think Kara’s doppelganger has been hanging out around L-Corp, do you?”   
  
_ I know she has,  _ Lena thought. “Just a shot in the dark is all, Gideon.”    
  
“Scanning now. There does appear to be a faint energy signature in the area. I doubt it’s strong enough to follow anywhere. I don't believe we could use it to lead us to where they’re keeping Kara.”   
  
“No, but we  _ can  _ pinpoint which Earth the two traveled from. Come pick me up, Gideon. We have work to do.”    
  


* * *

  
  
After nearly ten minutes of work, Kara had finally realized that her hope of being able to bend the bars effortlessly had been a pipe dream. But they were starting to give. She had reached a point where it would have been impossible to hide her work from even the most perfunctory of spot checks. She could either wait and try again the next time she was alone or try to escape then and there. Caution or risk. Tortoise or hare She hadn’t been thinking long when she heard the shuffle of footsteps approaching and she very quickly returned to the spot on the opposite wall.    
  
She settled down into a sitting position that she hoped looked natural when the door swung open, ready to see herself stroll into the room, somehow already getting used to such a strange sight.”

  
“You purposefully sat as close as you could to the emitters. A kryptonite crash course? It’s smart. Maybe if you had a little more time it might have worked.”   
  
_ It can’t be…  _   
  
“Lena?” Kara stood up on shaky legs and edged closer to the bars. There was no mistaking this Lena for her own. Even from a distance, wreathed in shadows where she lingered in the doorway, Kara could tell that this wasn’t her Lena.    
  
“I’ve been watching you.” She pointed to one corner of the room where Kara had to assume there was a camera she couldn’t see. “I should have come in earlier instead of watching you struggle needlessly, but I admit that I was impressed with your perseverance. I didn’t think you had it in you,” she said baldly.    
  
“You came with her to this Earth… I thought that you... “ Kara bit her lip.    
  
“You thought that I was dead. Not the most outlandish hypothesis. I might have thought the same thing in your shoes.”    
  
“I thought that she was doing all this for you…” Kara shook her head, looking more confused than ever. She still didn't agree with what her other Earth counterpart had been doing but at least she had been able to understand her, or at least Kara thought she had.  


  
“She is. Or I should say that we’re doing it for one another.”   
  
“But why? I don’t understand. If you two are together…”   
  
“On my Earth, when Lex found out that I was dating a Kryptonian… He gave up on his vendetta against Superman. Or I should say that he focused it solely onto Kara. He broke out of prison and waged war against Kara and me. Against the city. He hid well. Engaged in a war of attrition instead of trying to win outright. Kara was fighting without any rest and I spent every waking moment searching for Lex, trying to stay one step ahead of him. It went well for a while. We’re quite a good team, after all,” she said proudly, the ghost of a smile touching her lips. “And then the casualties began to pile up.   
  
“Public sentiment turned against Supergirl. It didn’t matter to them that Lex was the one behind everything. To them and most everyone else, they were simply caught in the crossfire. They weren’t wrong and I’m sure it was what Lex wanted. I tracked Lex to a warehouse in Metropolis. I don’t know how he knew that I had finally tracked him down but he ramped up his attack on National City. Sent robots to attack. Probably to give himself time to find another rathole to hide in.   
  
“Kara refused to go. She wanted to stay and protect the city. No matter how much I tried to convince her, she couldn’t just leave people in danger.” She smiled sadly. “It’s what you would do, isn’t it? 

  
Kara looked down, one hand still clutching one of the bars of her cell. To her, it felt like a trick question even if the other Lena hadn’t meant to phrase it as such. It was tempting to be contrary to try and avert the unhappy ending that she knew must be coming but couldn’t quite find it in herself to do so.   
  
Not waiting for Kara to answer, the other Lena continued. “Lex must have known that he was cornered because the robots stopped targeting Kara and started targeting civilians. We had no other choice... I built an EMP device that would disable the robots and I told Kara to go after Lex. I forced her to go… I promised her that I would be careful. She dropped me off at L-Corp before she left. She kissed me on the corner of my mouth the way I like…”    
  
Kara watched Lena’s double reach up and brush her fingers against the corner of her mouth, suddenly struck with the memory of her kissing Lena in the exact same spot on one of their date nights aboard the Waverider.   
  
“I took the device up to L-Corp’s roof. By then the air was thick with all the robots that Lex had sent out. I fired the device and there was an explosion, I don’t remember it, of course… Lex  _ knew  _ that I would use an EMP. He had prepared for it and rigged all of the robots to explode. The city was destroyed   
  
_ Oh, Rao…  _ “How many, Lena… How many died?”    
  
“Too many… Kara heard the explosions and came back. She looked for me and couldn’t find me in the rubble. She believed the worst had happened…” Her mouth turned upward into a horrific grin. “I suppose it had. Lillian was the one to pull me from the rubble. She saved me.” Tears began to slide down the other Lena’s cheeks and Kara felt a sickening pang in her chest. No, it wasn’t her Lena that was crying but it was still Lena and that was enough for it to break Kara’s heart.   
  
“She wouldn’t let me die but Lillian couldn’t stand that I had given my heart to a Kryptonian any more than Lex could. So she took it from me. Turned me into a monster…”   
  
“Lena? What did she do to you?”   
  
“There’s a reason that I’ve kept my distance. My Kara promised not to hurt you. If I get too close, it would mean breaking that promise.” She took one small step closer to Kara, finally edging far enough into the light for Kara to finally see her.    
  
There was little chance of Kara mistaking this Lena for her own. Her hair was cut far shorter, for one and when their eyes met, Kara felt nothing more than the faintest of twinges, the same kind that a very vague memory might evoke.   
  
“I’m sorry, but I really think it’s easier if I just show you… For you and for me…”    
  
Kara opened her mouth to ask what exactly it was that Lena needed to show her when she felt a pain so blinding that she felt her knees buckle, strength flowing out of her already weakened body at such a rapid rate that she hardly felt the searing pain that made it feel like her very blood had been set aflame. A groan bubbled from her mouth and as quickly as it had started, it had stopped. The lingering effects were sickeningly familiar and as she struggled to her feet her gaze flickered to the kryptonite emitters on the wall and then to the green glow that seemed to emanate from the other Lena’s chest.   
  
“Lillian let me go afterward. She had done what she had set out to do and maybe she was smart enough to know what Kara would do to her if given the chance… When Kara finally found me, when I let her find me, I had barricaded myself in the lab at L-Corp. I explained to her what Lillian had done to me… What I had become… I reminded her what that much kryptonite would do to her if she tried to get close to me. How dangerous I was to her. I told her to let me go…” Tears shone in her eyes and she took a step back, once again shrouding herself in semi-darkness.    
  
“She forced herself into the lab and held me… Even with the kryptonite poisoning her she refused to let me go. I’ve since installed a dampener to reduce the effects of the radiation but that doesn’t change the fact that my mere presence is poison to her. Every moment that we’re together is painful for her  _ and  _ for me. Every touch, every kiss… She’s grown stronger to its effects and put on a brave face for my benefit but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s killing her. It’s killing me as well... Maybe another month, maybe two… I understand the risks that come with meddling with time, Kara. All we want is to be together. That’s all.”   
  
“I understand, Lena, I do-”   
  
“I know you do,” she said, cutting her off. “Which is why I decided to tell you. You deserve to know because you understand. Your Lena will too..." She took another step back and shut the door behind her.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading! Hope you all liked the chapter
> 
> If you want to say hi or clog up my ask box: https://inkedroplets.tumblr.com/


	19. Earth-19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _If I go, a million miles away  
>  I'd write a letter, each and everyday  
> Cause honey nothing, nothing can ever change this love I have for you  
> Mm, make me weep and you can make me cry  
> See me coming and you can pass me by  
> But honey, nothing, nothing can ever change this love I have for you_  
> -Sam Cooke 'Nothing Can Change This Love'

“Miss Luthor?”   
  
“Yes, Gideon?” Lena answered, still staring at the holographic display of every Earth that Lillian had visited, her gaze flicking briefly to the fabricator where the last of the transmatter portal watches were being constructed.   
  
“Dr. Palmer and Dr. Haywood are waiting for you in the brig with Lillian Luthor. The others are currently en route as you requested.”   
  
“Tell the others to meet me on the bridge, Gideon. I won’t be long.”    
  
“Might I suggest asking Captain Lance for interrogation tips?”   
  
“If it comes to that,” Lena said darkly, pulling off her lab coat and striding out of the room. “But I think I’ll be able to make do on my own for now. Lillian isn’t stupid… If she has even an inkling about how angry I am she’ll talk."

There was a temptation to take a moment just outside the brig to gather herself the way she so often did before having to engage with any member of her family. Locking up the vulnerable parts of herself so that they couldn’t be used against her. If only she had the time to do so. The three-day time limit had seemed generous earlier but it hadn’t taken Lena very long to realize just how short it really was.   
  
When the door to the brig slid open, Lena saw Ray and Nate standing just outside the cell that Lillian was in, still wearing a prison jumpsuit.   
  
“Lena.” Ray spread his arms out as if meaning to hug Lena and seemed to reconsider and patted her somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder instead. “Sara told us everything…” He pointed to where Lillian was standing near the back of the translucent cell. “She was already processed and booked into Stryker’s Island. Had a little trouble getting her out…”   
  
“I made a  _ tiny  _ me-sized hole in one of the walls,” Nate said, squeezing his fingers together to emphasize just how small it really was. “And Ray made sure to clog up the hole before we left. We can probably send her back in the same way if we’re quick.”   
  
“Nothing would make me happier,” Lena said. “The others are on their way back, Alex too. I want to talk to everybody on the bridge when I’m done with her." She pointed to Lillian like one might at a particularly gruesome Halloween decoration. "I won’t be long…”   
  
“We can stay if you want, Lena,” Nate said.  


“You’ve already spent more than enough time with her already, Nate. I wouldn't want to make either of you suffer any more than you already have. I’ll be fine, you two can go on ahead. Swing by the lab first though I need you to take something down to the bridge with you. Gideon will tell you more. I know she can’t hear us,” Lena said, jabbing her thumb towards Lillian, “but I wouldn’t put it past her to be able to read lips.”    
  
“You think?” Ray looked skeptical but turned his back to her anyway before saying anything more. “I don’t think you can technically call yourself a Legend until you’ve gotten kidnapped at least once,” he said and put his hand on Lena’s shoulder. “We’ll get Kara back.”   
  
“Thank you,” Lena said softly.   
  
“Just call us if you need any backup,” Nate said.   
  
“First on the speed dial,” Lena joked and waved them out, not unkindly. She waited for the door to close behind them before she turned back towards the cell. She stepped close enough to press a small button near the glass so that they could speak to one another.   
  
“Orange suits you,” Lena said.    
  
“Is that why you had those two morons kidnap me? To laugh at my expense? I would have thought that was beneath you, Lena.”   
  
“You were never a bad actress, but you were never a particularly good one either. I know you’ve been visiting other Earths.”   
  
“If you had bothered to ask…” Lillian tutted. “Lex always accused you of never thinking big enough. I’m not surprised it took you so long to figure out what I was up to.” She looked down at her nails and only after she inspected them carefully did she finally look back up at Lena.    
  
“Yes, none of my inventions were ever made with the express purpose of hurting others. I can see why Lex would think that I’d been squandering my talents when I could have wasted my life waging a one-sided war with a Kryptonian like Lex. Would you have been proud of me then?” she asked, her voice dripping in sarcasm.   
  
“He at least didn’t hop into bed with one. She’s not listening outside the door, is she?” She sneered. “It must be so nice dating that little Kryptonian lie-detector, you never need to worry about anyone ever lying to you ever again, except maybe her.”   
  
“You say that as if I ever expected you to ever tell me the truth,” Lena said. “I counted thirty different Earths that you visited before you finally got bored of sightseeing and came back to ours to try and kill me. I have no idea what you did while you were there but I have a few hunches.”   
  
“That’s all you’ll have,” Lillian said, her eyes flashing dangerously. “You’re welcome to go there yourself and see but I’m not feeling all that talkative if all that I have to look forward to is returning to my jail cell, Lena.”   
  
“Gideon?”   
  
“Yes, Miss Luthor?”   
  
“Turn off the security feed to the brig.”   
  
“As you wish.”   
  
“Lena,” Lillian said reproachfully. “All these theatrics and for what? If you want to threaten me you could at least send in your girlfriend to-”   
  
“I could tell you that the Captain of this ship is an ex-assassin trained by the League of Shadows. That I’ve personally watched her interrogate and break people far cleverer than you. Or I could remind you that Alex Danvers would be more than happy to get you to talk. I'm sure she'd love the chance to do so after you took her hostage."   
  
“And what would Supergirl have to say about all that? Threatening me. Turning the cameras off. Although if she’s dating a Luthor it might be best if she knows what she’s getting into…”   
  
“I know what my Kara would say… What I’m not so sure about is what the Supergirl from one of the Earths you visited would have to say. One who seems to despise her Earth’s Lillian with every fiber of her being… One that threatened to burn National City to ashes if she ever heard your name repeated. What do you think would happen if I called her and told her that you were here aboard the Waverider?"   
  
Lena half-expected Lillian not to bend, not to break. Even Lex, up until the very end had remained defiant, had died doing all that he could do to hurt Lena, to make it clear to her just how much he pitied her… But little by little that infuriating sneer of hers began to wane and twist into a look of something that resembled terror.   
  
“You would never actually go through with it, Lena….” she said, sounding far less sure than she looked.   
  
“Funny. That’s what Lex said right before I shot him. Do you really want to make the same gamble?”    
  
Lillian was quiet for a time, no doubt mulling her options while trying to appear that she was still in control. She sighed as if Lena had been badgering her for hours, regaining a modicum of that coldness that seemed to emanate naturally from her like she was made of ice. “All the other Earths I visited… I was looking for another version of Lex that would want to travel to this Earth.”

Lena gaped at her for a moment. “Why would you ever want to do that?”   
  
Lillian scoffed. “You really do think I’m that heartless, don’t you, Lena?” The fear that had shone through on her face had disappeared behind a pitying look that Lena sometimes felt was reserved just for her. “You killed Lex and then ran off when Kara broke your heart. I had no one. Later, when I realized what you’d done, where you’d gone, I thought that there was a chance I could get Lex back or at least another version of him. I had hoped that I would be able to convince another version of your brother to give up on his hatred for Kryptonians... Focus his remarkable talents on something that would bear more fruit than anything he stood to gain from killing Superman."  
  
"World domination? 

"Someone has to do it," Lillian said simply. "But no matter how many different Earths I visited, I could never find the right one... Too cruel, or too softhearted. Or dead..."  
  
"Put that to paper and you might have the makings of a very grim fairy tale." Lena stared back at her, searching for any kind of tell.  “That’s all you did? You didn’t stick your nose where it didn’t belong? Try and hurt the other versions of Kara and me on other Earths?”    
  
“Because I tried to kill _you_ , you think that I did the same to every other version of you out there? I know I haven’t been the best mo-”   
  
“You tried to kill one," Lena spat. "Why wouldn't I think you'd do the same to any others you ran across."   
  
“I didn’t get anywhere near you or your girlfriend on any other Earth. You’re free to go and check for yourself if you don’t believe me.”   
  
Lena almost wished that she was lying. If Lillian  _ had  _ meddled with a timeline on the other Kara’s Earth it would have been business as usual for the Legends to fix it but if the timeline was stable, if there were no anachronisms to fix it would mean that any changes that they made would have dire consequences… 

“I shouldn’t have tried killing you, Lena. I was angry. I made a mistake,” Lillian said, not sounding in the least bit contrite although if Lena had been in a generous mood she might have admitted to seeing the tiniest glimpse of remorse in her eyes. “Where are you going?” she asked when Lena turned on her heel to leave.   
  
“Making sure that I don’t make one too. Gideon, lock down the brig. If she does anything that looks remotely suspicious-”   
  
“I’ll be more than happy to incapacitate her if the situation arises. The others are waiting for you on the bridge. I’m afraid that they were unable to find any sign of Kara.”   
  
“We’ll find her,” Lena said, striding down the hall in the direction of the bridge .  


* * *

With everyone gathered on the bridge, it only made it all the more apparent to Lena that Kara was missing. Her gaze instinctively flicked to her chair when she entered and when she locked eyes with Alex who was sitting in it, they shared a very brief look of understanding. They were the ones that knew Kara the best and felt her absence most keenly.   
  
“Did you get anything out of Lillian?” Sara asked, getting up out of her seat.    
  
“Just more problems,” Lena said and shook her head. “Gideon, pull up the map of every other Earth that Lillian visited.”   
  
“Certainly.”   
  
“Pay attention,” Lena said, looking in Mick’s direction. “Because I don’t want to have to explain this twice.”   
  
Mick rolled his eyes. “She just had to look at me when she said that.”   
  
“This,” Lena said and pointed to the holographic display, "is our Earth. For simplicity’s sake, we can call it Earth-1.”   
  
“Number one,” Nate whispered and pumped his fist, sinking lower into his chair when he saw that Alex was staring daggers at him.    
  
“There are thirty other Earths that Lillian visited before coming back to try and kill me.” She watched as each one was given a number randomly from two to thirty-one.    
  
“Does that mean there are thirty other versions of me running around somewhere in the universe?” Zari asked.   
  
“Multiverse," Lena corrected, "and a lot more than that. I have no idea just how many there are exactly but there could be an infinite number. I could get into specifics but the easiest way to understand it is if you think of each different Earth like a separate timeline. They’re all similar to one another with some key differences. On this Earth, I might never have gotten on the Waverider, or on this one Zari you could have become a social media influencer.”    
  
“That doesn’t sound very likely,” Zari said.    
  
“Maybe not but with infinite possibilities, there’s no telling where any of us are. Small changes add up and can ripple out in ways that change everything. This Earth,” she said and pointed to one highlighted in red, “is the Earth that Kara’s doppelganger came from. Gideon and I were able to trace the energy signature from when they traveled to our Earth."    
  
Lena leaned over the console and tapped a few buttons to bring up the security feed of the brig. “Lillian went Earth hoping to find a replacement Lex. She failed. Not that I’m surprised. Even to Lex, she was never Mother of the Year material.”   
  
“Dead Lex?” Mick asked. “The one you shot?”   
  
“Yes,” Lena said sourly. “That one.”   
  
“That’s  _ sweet _ ?” Nate asked, looking around to gauge the room. “Or is it weird? I feel like I’m leaning towards weird.”

Zari shook her head. “It’s  _ definitely  _ weird.”    
  
“She said that’s all she did… I don’t know if I believe her but we’ll find out soon enough.” Lena pointed to the watch on Sara’s wrist. “The watches that Ray and Nate brought up from the lab, they’re transmatter portal watches that I’ve integrated my Chronos device into. It’s more or less a time courier that lets you travel to different Earths instead of through time.”    
  
“They look cheap,” Mick said, looking at his watch disdainfully. “I’d never steal this.”   
  
“We each pick an Earth then and report back on what we find?” Ava asked.    
  
“Yeah.” Lena nodded. “Until we go down the list. This is only a scouting mission to assess the damage if any, that Lillian might have done. No unnecessary risks.”   
  
“What about the Earth Kara’s double came from? Earth-19?” Alex pointed to the one highlighted red. “Who goes there?”   
  
“I will,” Lena said.   
  
“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you go alone, Lena.” Alex shook her head. “I’m coming too.”   
  
“Alex… That’s sweet, but-”   
  
“No buts. If Kara finds out I let you explore a potentially dangerous Earth all by yourself she’ll never let me hear the end of it.” She shook her head. “I’m going with you.”    
  
Ava nodded in agreement. “We’re all going. The other Earths can wait. You’re not doing this alone, Lena.”   
  
“She’s right,” Zari said. “Kara would hate it if we went visiting a bunch of other Earths without her. We need to get her back first.”   
  
“We get Kara back first and then we figure out what to do with all the other Earths. Captain’s orders.” Sara stood up and looked at Lena.    
  
Lena knew that look. It wasn’t Sara pulling rank on her; it was a much-needed reminder that she wasn’t doing this alone.  _ I need to tell them,  _ she thought, hating herself for ever keeping it from them in the first place. 

“I’m not in any mood to argue.” Lena flashed Sara the briefest of smiles. “But I need to tell you all something first.”   
  
“That you love us?” Zari teased   
  
“I thought that was implied after spending so much time together…” Lena took a breath, forcing herself not to drop her gaze, looking around at each one of them until she was looking at Alex. “I lied about Kara’s doppelganger not wanting anything… She wants the Waverider. She wants to fix something that happened on her Earth. I didn’t want to lie,” Lena said, a warbling note of desperation in her voice. “But if I have no other choice… I  _ can’t  _ lose Kara.” 

“You aren’t going to lose, Kara. I promise, Lena, but we’re not going to learn anything if we just sit here,” Sara said. “We have another Earth to visit.”   
  
“Several,” Ray said.    
  
“I told you, babe. There is  _ always  _ a ransom.” Ava looked almost too pleased with herself. “It didn’t make any sense that she took Kara hostage without wanting anything. No phone call, no letter…” She shook her head    
  
“She has a thing for true crime,” Zari said, noticing the perplexed expression on Alex’s face.   
  
“She has a podcast,” Mick grunted. “It’s pretty good.”    
  
“I’m sure we can fix it,” Zari said. “We always do. How bad could it be?"   


* * *

Left alone again, Kara had lost track of just how much time had passed since the other Lena had left her cell. She had been so careful to keep track since waking up in her cell but she had lost the thread. How could she not after learning what she did? It wasn’t a large stretch of the imagination to think that another version of Lex and Lillian could do something so despicable. It made sense to her that there would be certain harmonies that might persist across different Earths. Just like there was another Lex who hated Kryptonians that would seemingly stop at nothing to prove himself superior to them there was at least one other version of Lena and herself that had met and fallen in love…    
  
When the door opened again, Kara stood up instinctively. She had abandoned her escape plan but had still sat there in the corner as far from the kryptonite emitters that she could get.    
  
“You didn’t finish your food.” Her other self entered, the frown already on her face deepening all the more. “I thought we had a deal. If I need to-”   
  
“Why didn’t you tell me about Lena?” It was less a question and more of an accusation but one that hardly seemed to phase her.   
  
Her double’s gaze slid briefly to the door behind her and then back to Kara. “Lena came to see you…”   
  
“If I had known-”   
  
“You would have pitied us.”    
  
“No!” Kara’s hands closed around the bars of her cell and for once she was glad that they didn’t bend effortlessly in her grip. She needed something to hold onto. “What happened to the both of you… If you had told us from the beginning, why you wanted the Waverider…”   
  
“You would have simply handed it over?” Her double looked skeptically back at her. “For some reason, I don’t believe you, Kara…”   
  
“You should.” Her gaze didn’t waver and after several seconds of intense scrutiny, the other Kara seemed at least willing to entertain the idea that she might be wrong about her. “You already asked me what I would choose between the world and Lena… I wish I could say that it was a hard decision for me to make but it wasn’t. If something ever happened to Lena… I would do whatever it took to keep her safe, to fix things. Let us help you.”   
  
“You know how you can do that.”   
  
“There could be another way,” Kara pleaded.   
  
“No.” There was no anger in her voice, only finality. “If there was, we would have found it. Do you think traveling to another Earth was our plan b?”   
  
“You gave Lena three days,” Kara said, desperation beginning to leak into her voice. She was the furthest thing from a salesman but she could tell that her double’s very limited interest in what she was saying was waning quickly. “Let us try and find another way, a safer way. If we can’t in three days-”   
  
“Two days,” the other Kara said. Her jaw was set and she looked angry with herself for even entertaining the idea.   
  
“Two days,” Kara quickly amended. She hadn’t closed the deal and she wasn’t about to start trying to haggle when she had only just begun to gain a little ground, a little hope. “Two days. That’s all… I promise.”    
  
“You won’t find anything… Lena and I-”   
  
“Maybe, but maybe not… There’s no harm in trying or in hoping. At the very least, we can make sure that you and Lena using the Waverider won’t break time. That you’ll have a home to go back to.”

That seemed to be enough to erode the last stubborn bit of resolve that her double had been desperately clinging to. Her expression softened and she turned to the corner where Kara now knew there was a camera that Lena’s double had been using to monitor her. Walking closer to it, she gave a very reluctant shrug. “What do we have to lose, my love?”   
  


* * *

“Gideon? Are you there? None of the other Legends are answering their comms.”   
  
“Kara? Are you alright? We’ve been searching for you for hours. Did you find a way to escape somehow?”   
  
“I’m fine, Gideon. And not exactly… Where are the others?”   
  
“Your friends from National City are currently scouring the city looking for any sign of you and the Legends have gone to the Earth that your doppelganger came from to investigate.”   
  
“They didn’t need to do that,” Kara said, catching her doppelganger’s eye. “I can explain everything once I’m back on the ship… I’m not coming alone…”   
  
“If you mean to bring your sister along with us, she’s already come aboard and is with the Legends.”   
  
“No,” Kara said, clearing her throat. “I’m bringing-”   
  
“Me,” her other self said loudly, a bite of impatience in her voice.    
  
“The other you?” Gideon asked after a few moments of silence.    
  
“Yes,” Kara said and gave her double an apologetic shrug.   
  
“And you’re not doing this under duress?”   
  
“No, Gideon.”   
  
“I told Miss Tomaz that she was wrong about you, Kara. You really do fit quite well with the rest of the Legends, they always find a way to make things so deliciously complicated.”

“Glad I could join the club.”   
  


* * *

  
The last thing that Lena expected to see when the Legends returned from their scouting mission to the other Earth was Kara, her Kara sitting in her seat on the bridge. Her and her doppelganger. “Kara?”   
  
Lena was almost immediately wrapped up in an embrace that made it hard for her to do much of anything but bump her forehead against Kara’s affectionately, her attention torn between Kara and her Earth-19 counterpart.    
  
“What the hell is going on?” Mick’s hand twitched for his gun, looked to Sara for guidance who looked just as confused.    
  
“It’s fine, Mick,” Kara said, her arms still wrapped vise-like around Lena    
  
_ You wouldn’t say that if you saw what we saw, Kara…  _ The look of relief on Lena’s face crumbled away and was replaced by a worried frown that only grew more pronounced when she locked eyes with Kara’s doppelganger. “Kara… We just came back from  _ her _ Earth. The things we saw there…”    
  
“I know… That’s why we’re here. We need to fix it. We have to.” Kara finally let Lena go, looking reluctant to do so, and pulled Alex into the same kind of hug, although Alex had the foresight to move one arm out of the way before she did so she could hug her back.    
  
“We want to help too, Kara. Any way that we can,” Sara said, making brief eye contact with her double. “We’re a little out of our depth when it comes to other Earths though…”   
  
“I’m not,” a familiar voice said over their comms. “Whatever you need to know you can ask me.”   
  
“Is that your conscience?” Nate asked Lena.    
  
“No…” Lena said slowly. “That’s-”   
  
“ _ My  _ Lena,” Kara’s double said, staring at Nate with a sour expression on her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long absence. A mixture of work, plotting and life conspiring to keep me way too busy. Next chapter much, much sooner, I promise. Next one will be a doozy.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	20. Quantum Entanglement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _So stay with me  
>  Hold my hand  
> There's no need  
> To be brave_
> 
> _And all the quiet nights you bear  
>  Seal them up with care  
> No one needs to know they're there  
> For I will hold them for you_  
> -Mitski 'I Will'

Perhaps because of the overall strangeness that came with their work as, beyond the initial confusion at seeing Kara and her Earth-19 counterpart together in the same place, the Legends had no qualms about settling down into their usual positions on the bridge while they began the arduous task of laying all their cards out on the table.   
  
The reasons behind Kara’s kidnapping and why Lena’s Earth-19 counterpart had chosen to speak to them from the lab on the Waverider became clear even without Lena's double offering a brief glimpse on the bridge’s holographic display of the green light that seemed to pour from her chest when she tore away a covering on her chest for one brief moment.    
  
When it was Lena’s turn to tell Kara about what the Legends saw on their trip to Earth-19, a number of images of a National City that might have been nearly identical to their own joined Lena’s doppelganger on the bridge’s display although it was hard to tell with nearly every building in the city reduced to rubble. Streets that had once been bustling with people looked more like a warzone, littered with huge    
  
“It’s a no man's land now,” Kara’s doppelganger explained, her gaze divided between the images on display and the Legends. “By the time all the survivors of Lex’s attack were evacuated, there was little reason in trying to save it… The city was on fire and due to the sheer amount of kryptonite that Lex used to try and kill me,” she said, her gaze turning steely as her hands clenched into fists so tight that Lena could hear the creak of bone. “It made the city uninhabitable. A few individuals lobbied for efforts to rebuild, Ted Kord, Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen but the writing was on the wall… They were unsuccessful and our focus… It was about finding a cure, a way to save Lena.”   
  
“We’ve explored nearly every option available,” Lena's double said, catching her Kara’s eye and offering her an incredibly soft smile before she continued. “Making the kryptonite inert was a dead end. Not only is it inexorably tied to my survival but even if we were able to find another source of energy, the radiation from it is already killing me...    
  
“How long?” Sara asked.   
  
“A conservative estimate? One month," she said. "But if you wanted me to be more realistic-”   
  
“We’re running out of time,” Kara’s double said. “It’s why we came here to this Earth.”   
  
“How did you know about the Waverider though?” Ava asked. “If you don’t have a Time Bureau on your Earth I don’t understand how you could ever find us.”   
  
Lena, whose attention had been split evenly between Kara and her doppelganger, only had eyes for her double whose expression shifted to one that she recognized as a quiet kind of pride, her mouth curved into a somewhat lopsided grin.    
  
“I told you that I can tell you anything you might want to know about the Multiverse. I started researching it with Kara nearly a decade ago.”   
  
Mick let out a grunt. “Your Olsen twin already gave us this lecture.”   
  
Lena stared daggers at him, catching his eye easily and jerking her head to draw his attention to Kara’s doppelganger who was staring at him with what could only be described as a look of pure unadulterated fury etched on her face.    
  
“You’ll have to forgive Mr. Rory,” Gideon said. “He’s not one for long lectures.”   
  
Nate’s eyebrows arched upward and he leaned closer to Ray. “At least he didn’t fall asleep.”   
  
“As I was saying,” Lena’s double continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted in the first place. “Our research into the multiverse started nearly a decade ago. We were looking into a way to predict events before they happened. Natural disasters, metahuman attacks, things of that nature. I was originally working under the hypothesis that the Multiverse was an expansion of every single decision, possibility, outcome… It  _ is  _ that, but it’s  _ so  _ much more.

“Instead of researching a method to travel to different Earths, we looked into developing a kind of drone that we could send out instead. Nearly undetectable and able to send back a lot more data than we could ever get ourselves. We thought it would be the safest way to learn more without the risk of getting stranded on-”   
  
“A planet full of vampires,” Nate said, shivering.   
  
“We were more worried about finding ourselves stranded on an uninhabitable one,” she said, her gaze lingering briefly on Nate, looking almost concerned. “That and our presence possibly having an adverse effect on another Earth. It might be easier to explain if I just show you. What’s your ship’s AI called?”   
  
“You can call me Gideon, Miss Luthor.”   
  
“Gideon. Could you display the footage on this drive?”   
  
“Of course I can. If only this Earth’s Lena could ask me for things so nicely.”   
  
“Give her some time to get to know you, Gideon.” Lena flashed a very weak smile that she didn’t have to try and hold very long because the lights on the bridge dimmed and the holographic display flickered off and then on again. The image of Lena’s doppelganger in the lab was replaced by footage of a city that looked like something ripped from the pages of a science-fiction novel. Lena had just enough time to marvel at the strange architecture of some of the buildings before her double began to speak.    
  
“This Earth made advancements in science and technology far faster than anything on our Earth or yours. This one,” she said as the footage flickered and changed to an endless expanse of ocean where two gigantic galleons were firing cannons at one another, plumes of smoke issuing up into the air and settling into a hazy cloud over both ships. “Global climate changes and natural disasters turned this Earth into a-”   
  
“Waterworld,” Nate said.    
  
“Looks more Errol Flynn to me,” Ray said, squinting to get a better look at a figure up on one of the galleon’s crow’s nest. “Is that?-”   
  
“That’s me,” Lena said, eyes wide. “I look like I’m dressed up for Halloween.” She took a step closer in an effort to get a better look at herself. There was a tricorn hat perched on top of her head at a jaunty angle and her hair was shorter than Lena had ever worn it but it was her, or to be more precise another version of her. There was a scar on the right side of her face that looked like it had once been a very deep wound. The scar ran from her cheek all the way down to her chin. She watched that Earth’s version of her draw a flintlock pistol from her waist, and hop down over the side of the crow’s nest, swinging down to the deck below, landing beside a woman that was unmistakably Kara.    
  
“I didn’t think you had it in you Girl Scout,” Mick said, leaning forward to give Kara’s chair a nudge with his foot. “A pirate.”   
  
“Neither did I,” Kara said, sounding shocked. Her eyes were wide and she turned back to Alex with an incredulous look of surprise on her face. Evidently being kidnapped by her exact double wasn’t quite enough to take all the surprise of seeing herself behind the wheel of a giant ship, a cutlass tucked into her waist.    
  
“It’s not  _ you.  _ Just like it’s not me.” Kara’s double shook her head and appeared to smile for a fraction of a second when the Kara and Lena on the display each fired a shot over one another's shoulder and went in for a kiss that might have lasted longer if not for cannon fire that rattled the ship.   
  
More and more displays appeared around the bridge, all of them offering a brief glimpse into another Earth.   
  
“On that Earth,” Kara’s double said, scanning around before pointing to a display floating above Nate’s head. “Kara Zor-El’s escape pod landed in Kaznia instead of America. On that one, Lena works as a vigilante in Metropolis, and on this one," she said, something akin to dread seeping into her voice as she glanced in Nate's direction. "Earth has a rather serious vampire problem…”   
  
“I knew it!” Nate clapped his hands together and pointed to it. “Are we on all these Earths? Am I a vampire hunter on that Earth?” he asked, his voice dropping, looking more interested than ever.   
  
Kara’s double rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “We only met today,” she reminded him, “but if I had to guess, I would say no.”    
  
“No to the vampire hunter or no to existing?”    
  
“Both.”   
  
“That’s  _ definitely  _ a burn,” Zari muttered, stifling a chuckle behind her hand.    
  
“Is that the same for all of us?” Sara gestured around at the rest of the Legends. 

Lena’s double gave a small shake of her head. “Among all these other Earths, all of you exist in  _ some  _ way or another but not on every single Earth. You shouldn’t feel bad though, true constants in the Multiverse are nearly unheard of. In all our time researching we’ve only stumbled across a handful.”    
  
“Such as?” Lena asked.   
  
Lena’s double raised her hand almost shyly, looking down at the table she had her arms folded on top of. “Me. You, for one. On every other Earth that we’ve researched there is always a Lena Luthor  _ and  _ there is always a Kara Danvers… There are others as well. People and sometimes even places or events but it’s  _ incredibly  _ rare.  Each Earth does share some kind of connection. Call them similarities or echoes but trying to use any of them to predict a potential disaster is simply out of the question. After what happened to me… We started searching other Earths for a way to fix things… Time travel wasn’t something that had crossed either of our minds. If we had more time maybe… But like Kara said… We’re running out of time. "  
  
“We would have probably never stumbled across your Earth if someone from it didn’t travel to ours,” Kara’s double said. “That’s never happened before. Once,” she amended. “But that was a speedster. We traced the energy signature back here to several Earths but this was the point of origin. We sent drones to each Earth and when we realized that not only did you have time travel but you had a vessel capable of existing outside of any changes to a timeline…”   
  
“You dropped by to borrow a cup of sugar,” Ray finished.   
  
“And kidnap this Earth’s Kara Zor-El, yes.”   
  


“There are loopholes in the timeline,” Zari said, her hand raised almost meekly. “If we could find one on their Earth…”   
  
Sara shook her head. “You know how rare those can be. If we can’t find one, then where will we be?”   
  
“Could we manufacture one?” Kara asked.   
  
“Nothing’s impossible,” Lena said, her dour mood abating somewhat when Kara reached out and took her hand in hers, already brainstorming possible avenues that they could explore. “But Sara’s right, pinning all our efforts on that alone won’t be enough. Either way, we need to be there to run tests and any research you might have back on your Earth could help.” She locked eyes with Kara’s double and saw the same dread that she felt creeping into her like a bitter cold. She didn’t want to return there and while they hadn’t taken a vote, she was certain that none of the Legends wanted to.    
  
Kara’s double’s jaw was set and she looked around at all of them except for Alex who she seemed to go out of her way to avoid looking at. “And if we’re unsuccessful,” she said carefully, looking to her Lena. “Then we take the Waverider and use it as we intended. Loophole or no loophole. If anyone has a problem with that-”   
  
“You might not be our Kara or our Lena but if you expect us not to help...” Sara raised her arms out. “It wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve broken time before. Honestly, I think we work better once things go a little off the rails…”    
  
There was a murmur of agreement around the bridge and Ava made a noise that sounded like a groan, rubbing at her temple with the palm of her hand. “And you wonder why I gave all of you terrible evaluations when I was at the Time Bureau.”

“We don’t have a problem with it,” Sara assured her. “Gideon. Take us to Earth-19.”   


* * *

  
While Lena and her double were already in deep conversation with one another, speaking so fast that it sounded almost like one very complicated monologue, most of the Legends had already clambered aboard the jump ship. Over the comms, Lena could hear the usual throwing of elbows and general discomfort that came with seating so many people in a ship that was simply too small.    
  
“Our research is at Lena’s lab at L-Corp,” Earth-19 Kara said over the comms. “There’s a biometric lock that you'll be able to open Kara.”   
  
“And if we just smash the door in?” Mick asked.   
  
“If you  _ try  _ to do that. You’ll die. The defenses at the lab have been modified to deal with any intruders more efficiently.”   
  
“We promise we’ll knock first,” Sara said.    
  
“It would be faster if I went but I’d prefer to stay close to Lena…”   
  
“Don’t worry about it. “We won’t be quite as fast as a speeding bullet but we’ll make good time,” Sara said.    
  
“I’ve cleared out a lot of the kryptonite around L-Corp but I’d keep the ship relatively high until you get closer…”   
  
“We’ll be careful,” Kara assured her as she tried to settle into her seat without elbowing Mick in the face while she did so. “And we’ll be back soon.”

“Be careful,” Lena chimed in, letting her focus wane ever so briefly. She looked up from the tablet she had been scribbling on a moment before. “I just got you back.” Lena would have said more on the subject if she hadn’t noticed the way that her double appeared to twist away nearly imperceptibly, focusing completely on her own work in an attempt to keep herself out of the conversation.    
  
“I’ll take good care of her,” Sara promised. “You focus on making a loophole. If anyone can do it, it’s you Lena, and with two of you…”   
  
“Go,” Lena said, returning her attention to her tablet.    
  
“Already gone.”    
  
Lena heard the distant roar of engines as the jump ship took to the sky and looked up to find her double looking at her.   
  
“Your friends… They seem very kind…”   
  
“They’re like a second family to me,” Lena said and chuckled. “They’re more a family to me than the Luthors ever were. I’ve been on this ship for nearly six years now. How I didn’t go stir crazy staying on a ship this small is anyone’s guess though..."   
  
“On this Earth, you and Kara are time travelers? That’s a new one.” Her right brow arched in a harsh curve that Lena had seen herself make hundreds of times. “Not the most outlandish of occupations for the two of us that we’ve seen on some other Earths but close.” She smiled and to Lena, it looked like a hollow smile.    
  
“I guess we are. I don’t know if I would put that on my resume. And Kara’s only been on board a few months.” Lena shook her head. “I actually wound up here trying to get away from Kara…”

  
“Get away from her?”   
  
“I’ll tell you the whole story after we figure out how to make a loophole in the timeline.” She smiled. “Zari’s simulation program should be able to let us know when we find one that will work. The only problem is-”   
  
“Making a loophole,” her double finished for her. “Time travel was never my forte but from what Gideon’s been able to tell me it’s not all that different from how the multiverse operates.” She grinned and brushed a lock of hair away from her forehead absentmindedly as she did so. “If  I’m able to, I’d love to study it more.”   
  
“Events that have unfolded are meant to do so in a certain way. Any major alterations to them and time starts to break down. At least that’s the theory that we work under. Zari’s simulation program that she made is meant to skirt around that very issue which calls into question just how malleable time really is but changing something as big as what happened on your Earth is  _ difficult.  _ But not impossible.”   
  
“Nothing is impossible for a Luthor,” her double said. She glanced up at a feed of the bridge where her Kara was sitting beside Zari, her brow furrowed in concentration. “I really hope that’s true.”    
  
“For now,” Lena said. “Our best bet is plugging in as many variations as we can think of into Zari’s simulation program and seeing just how many ripple effects they’ll cause and work backward from there.” It was not all that different from firing into the dark and hoping to strike a target that they could only hope  _ might  _ be there but what choice did they have?    
  
“There have to be billions of different variations to the timeline,” Lena’s double said. “If we want to test them all we’d need weeks.”   
  
“I’ve always found the best research is done under a deadline,” Lena said, her fingers tapping away at the tablet in her lap. “We have two days, we’ll find something by then. Zari knows the program better than I do and Gideon’s always looking for an excuse to show me up.”   
  
“Perhaps if so many opportunities didn’t present themselves, Miss Luthor. I’m currently running simulations as we speak. I thought it best to get started without waiting for you to give me the go-ahead.”    
  
“Like that’s ever stopped you before, Gideon.”   
  


* * *

  
  
“That’s pretty much all there is to it.”   
  
Zari was standing behind Kara’s doppelganger, one finger pointed at the screen in front of her. “Mick knows how to run the program so you shouldn’t have any problem getting it. It was a bitch to program though.”   
  
Kara’s double was only half paying attention. She had grasped the program easily, something Zari had picked up on because she had shifted her focus almost entirely to Alex while she talked. They were the only three left on the bridge and while Alex had taken a seat beside Kara’s double she hadn’t once looked in her direction even though she had felt Alex’s eyes on her more than once as she tapped away at the keyboard in front of her.    
  
She of all people knew that this Alex wasn’t hers. There was really no mistaking the two. Her Alex’s hair had been longer and she had never once seen her Alex wear a leather jacket. Kara would have teased her mercilessly for it if she ever had. She was also left-handed where this Alex seemed to favor her right judging from the holster on her hip.  _ And,  _ an incessantly intruding voice reminded her, oh so helpfully,  _ this Alex is alive,  _ as if she were in danger of forgetting.  _  
_ _  
_ “I’m going to go down to Gideon’s mainframe and see if I can fiddle with the program a bit. This is a little beyond my paygrade but I don’t get paid at all as a Legend so I’ll see if I can do something to make our job a little easier.” She excused herself, exchanging a quick look with Alex before leaving the bridge.    
  
There was a good ten minutes of silence as the two of them worked, both of them plugging in variables into the simulation program that Earth-19 Kara broke by clearing her throat. She felt Alex’s gaze immediately snap to her and while she continued to work she did glance up briefly so that their eyes met for an instant.   
  
“I need to apologize,” she said, forcing herself to look up and meet Alex’s gaze. Seeing a look of polite confusion on her face she couldn’t stop herself from letting out an exasperated sigh that somehow softened the steely edge in her gaze that never truly seemed to fade unless in Lena’s company. “I kidnapped your sister,” she said as if needing to remind Alex of some past injustice that had happened years ago that she only now wanted to apologize for instead of something she had just done.    
  
“You did.”    
  
“I used kryptonite on her.” She waited for the explosion of anger, prepared to welcome it even, and could only gape when it didn’t come. “I threatened Lena.” A look of revulsion stole across her face and she felt her mouth twitch. No, it wasn’t her Lena just like the woman beside her wasn’t her Alex, it wasn’t even her Earth but that didn’t stop her from hating herself for what she had done, for what she hadn’t done…   
  
“I know.” Alex swiveled her chair so that they were facing one another. Alex’s gaze that had passed over like a persistent searchlight came to rest and held there until Kara’s double looked up from the spot of the floor she had been focused on and met her gaze. “But you didn’t want to do those things, did you?”    
  
“I did want to,” she said firmly, once again trying to goad Alex into yelling at her, a somewhat feeble attempt to get her to see red.    
  
“You  _ had  _ to,” Alex corrected. Her gaze flickered to the window of the Waverider to the crumbling ruins of what remained of the city. “I can’t imagine any Earth where my sister would want to threaten Lena of all people.” She shook her head brushing the idea off as preposterous. “And I’ll get over the kryptonite,” she said.    
  
“I’m still sorry,” she said, letting her gaze fall away from Alex and return to looking back down at her feet momentarily, not wanting to look out the windows of the ship and see what little remained of her home, to see just how much ugliness could exist in one man’s hatred or to look at Alex and see understanding in her eyes when she felt like she deserved none.    
  
“You don’t need to apologize anymore, Kara…”   
  
_ Yes, I do.  _   
  
She felt a hand close gently over her forearm and looked up to see Alex leaning over her. Up close the differences between this Alex standing in front of her and her own didn’t seem all that glaring. “You’re not her,” she said softly, ignoring the sting of tears in her eyes, one hand clenched into a fist that made the tendons in her arm stand out. “You’re not my Alex.”   
  
“I know…”    
  
“My Alex is-” Her voice shook and just barely had the strength to put a stopper on the shuddering sob that had tried its best to escape from her with all the desperation and ferocity of a prisoner kept too long in the dark. She felt familiar arms wrapping her into a hug that she didn’t deserve and the grief that had been festering away inside her recede somewhat like a retreating wave that would without a doubt return. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…”   
  


* * *

  
There had been a few promising starts, but oftentimes those always seemed bountiful. What mattered was the one that got you to the end and after an hour they were no closer than they were when they had started.  _ Too many damn ripples,  _ Lena thought. Whether it was due to the sheer size of the event or the people involved, the destruction of National City seemed close to immutable. Not that Lena was ready to give up, on the contrary, she felt more determined than ever now that Kara and the rest of the Legends had returned with her other self’s research.   
  
“You and Kara are research partners on your Earth, then?” Lena asked.   
  
“Partners in every sense of the word.” She smiled and leaned over to get a better glimpse at the research notes that Lena was going over. “This research is years old at this point. Our interests drifted elsewhere after a while.”   
  
“Hit a dead end?”   
  
“No, the opposite actually. Too many avenues to explore. The more we researched the multiverse the more we realized how many Earths needed help… And our hands were full with just our own.” She chuckled and her hand brushed briefly over her chest. “And look how well we did protecting this Earth…”    
  
“You’re still fighting,” Lena reminded her. “And you have help now.”   
  
“You might be the most optimistic version of me that we’ve run across,” she said. Her tone didn’t lighten but that harsh coldness that appeared to envelop her like a cloak seemed to dissipate somewhat. If Lena had to guess she might have succeeded in breaching one of the walls that her other self put up around herself.    
  
“That’s frightening,” Lena said, turning briefly to her double and exchanging identical smirks. “I was thinking about what you said about constants in the multiverse.” You said that we’re one of them.”   
  
Lena’s double nodded. “It’s hard to get a proper sample size in the multiverse but, yes. There is always some version of Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers on every Earth in the multiverse. The odds of that happening aren’t quite astronomical but they’re close… We worked out the odds of that occurring to about one in eight-hundred million?” She smiled fondly at the memory and Lena watched as she reached up to lightly touch the corner of her mouth. “Extremely rare but not impossible but there was one thing about us that we were never able to explain..”   
  
Lena looked at her quizzically, waiting for her to elaborate.   
  
“Every Earth that we researched, however different they were from our Earth, Those versions of us always found their way into each other’s orbit. Every single time… The first few times we observed it we thought it was a fluke and then we observed it again and again and again.” She shook her head looking pleasantly vexed. “I still have no idea but I’m more than willing to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

“Quantum entanglement,” Lena said, more to herself than as an answer to her doppelganger’s question. It had sprung into her mind so quickly that it was as if she had been expecting to answer in just such a way.    
  
“Quantum entanglement?” Her doppelganger smiled softly, nodding to herself. “Kara came to the same conclusion.  _ My  _ Kara,” she clarified needlessly.    
  
The ghost of an old memory flitted past Lena's mind eye, slowly coming into better focus of her asking Kara what she knew about quantum entanglement when she felt something click into place. Her eyes widened and she stood up on shaky legs, groping for the tablet she had been scribbling equations on before.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I know what to do." Lena let out a nervous bout of laughter that she stifled by clamping her mouth shut, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her lips as she began to plug in more variables into Zari's program. "We haven't been going back far enough," she said. "Normally, when you change an event, the ripples out from that decision are what cause issues. Things happen that we can't foresee."  
  
"The butterfly effect."  
  
"Exactly. Unintended consequences that radiate out like waves, growing bigger and bigger until..." She clenched her left hand into a fist and opened it quickly to mimic an explosion. "But if what you've said about the other versions of us in the multiverse is true... If we really are drawn to one another. If we _always_ meet. Then our meeting on each Earth could be a kind of-"  
  
"An anchor point," her double said, eyes just as wide as Lena's.  
  
"There could be hundreds, thousands among the constants in the multiverse. Safetys built in to ensure that the world keeps on turning," she said, aware of just how folksy that sounded. "Going back to one of those points should be possible. Back to when you two first met."  


"But that would mean... That would be years... All of them gone..." The Lena from Earth-19 pressed a hand to her chest and groped for a switch so that a feed of the bridge flickered to life on one of the displays in the lab. She smiled sadly, staring at her Kara sitting hunched over her own keyboard. "I want to be able to hold her again without knowing that by simply being near her that I'm hurting her... I want to be there to protect her." She took a breath and rubbed at her eyes. "I need to tell Kara what we have to do..."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone made it through election week without losing too much of their sanity. Might have had some fun canon welding some future stories as well as some current ones into this chapter ;) 
> 
> Thanks as always for reading! Stay safe!


	21. Once More to See You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Just close your eyes  
>  The sun is going down  
> You'll be alright  
> No one can hurt you now  
> Come morning light  
> You and I'll be safe and sound_  
> -Taylor Swift 'Safe & Sound'

After five years aboard the Waverider and more narrowly averted disasters than she wanted to count, Lena had grown incredibly good at presenting her findings to the rest of the team in a mostly headache-free Cliff Notes version that even Mick could grasp well enough if he happened to be paying attention. But as she and her doppelganger made their way down to the bridge, she wasn’t sure just where to begin. There were still blind spots to her theory that needed illuminating. Something she hoped would be remedied by getting a look at the research Kara had gone down in the jump ship to retrieve. 

“I’d like to tell my Kara in private while you tell your team, if that’s alright with you,” Lena’s double said. She had fallen out of step with Lena and lagged slightly behind, head bent low and her hands balled into tight fists. “Is there anywhere we can be alone?”  
  
Lena nodded and then pointed back in the direction they had just come from. “My room is just down that way. It’s cramped,” she warned. “I can take you there before I head down to the bridge.”

Her double didn’t reply, only nodded, and set off at a trudging pace back down the hall that Lena easily matched. They had identical worry lines that ran along their forehead, a detail that Lena might have found interesting if the stakes weren't so incredibly high.  
  
The walk to her room was a very short one even at the slow trudge her double had set off at and while Lena’s mind was full of potential problems, pitfalls that they would need to be mindful of going forward with her plan, she still found herself searching desperately for something, anything that might offer her doppelganger a modicum of comfort but no matter how deeply she dug she kept coming up empty-handed. What could she say that wouldn't come out sounding hollow?  
  
“Here,” Lena said gently and reached out to grasp her doppelganger's arm gently to stop her from walking any farther as if she were a balloon that might continue to drift if left alone.  
  
“It is small.” Her counterpart mustered the smallest of smiles that she didn't bother holding for long. She stepped inside and after the briefest of hesitations sat down at the tiny desk shoved into the farthest corner of the room.  
  
“I’ll send your Kara along when I get to the bridge and after that,” Lena said delicately, “we can get to work.” She idled in the doorway and took one small step inside. “If there was any other way,” Lena started, wishing she hadn’t defaulted to such a tired platitude that she knew from experience likely offered no comfort whatsoever.  
  
The smile on her double’s face brightened and she shook her head. “If there was another way, we would have found it.” She gave her head a gentle shake and brushed at her eyes with the palm of her left hand, wiping away tears before they had a chance to fall. “We wouldn’t have found it without you and now we have a chance…” Her voice wavered and her hand crossed her breast and settled over the center of her chest. “That’s enough for me,” she said softly. “And it will be enough for Kara too.” She reached for a photo on the desk and smiled. She held it out to Lena needlessly. She knew what photo it was without needing to look. 

It was one they had taken together on the bridge with Kara in the Captain’s seat and Lena in her lap. It was one single moment and the other pictures lined up neatly on her desk and the few crammed on the table next to her bed were several more. There were dozens of other photos crammed into tiny boxes (the irony of which was not lost on Lena) under her bed. More snapshots of their life together and all the good memories that accompanied them. Proof of how wonderful their time together on the Waverider had been, how wonderful Lena thought it would continue to be. It was what she was asking their Earth-19 counterparts to give up. Not just a few moments but all of them.

“We’ll take more pictures,” her double said, still staring at the photo. “My Kara always wanted us to take more… Maybe I’ll listen this time around.” She set the photo back down as delicate as can be and even in the relatively tiny room, Lena thought she looked very small.

* * *

  
  
When Lena arrived at the bridge she did the smallest of double-takes when she saw Kara deep in conversation with herself. The two were huddled together, not exactly whispering but speaking so quickly that Lena could hardly snatch a word from it, their voices sounding more like the drone of very angry bees.  
  
“They’ve been at that for a while now,” Sara said in a hushed whisper. She had looked up from her own console and stood up from her chair, stretching out like a cat that had found a particularly warm patch of sunlight. “Gideon says that they’re comparing notes. They’re speaking too fast for us to make out anything.”  
  
“Did you have any trouble?” Lena asked and found her gaze inexorably drawn to the view outside of the ruin that was once this Earth’s National City, which looked like all it had left to give was trouble. 

“No trouble,” Sara assured her. “I think we have enough of that on our plate as it is… Please tell me that you have some good news,” she said, almost pleading.  
  
Before Lena could answer one way or another she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. She instinctively reached up and placed her hand over the top of it without bothering to turn around and felt some of the dread that had been pressing down on her with ever-increasing intensity since this whole ordeal began, to recede somewhat.  
  
“Sorry,” Kara said. “We had a lot to talk about and this was the fastest way. She was explaining their research into the Multiverse and I was telling her more about the Waverider.” She gave Lena an uneasy shrug. “You or Sara have been here longer so you might be able to explain it in better detail…”  
  
“I’m sure you did wonderfully,” Lena assured her. She turned around and brushed her hand gently against Kara’s cheek. “I can catch you up on what we’ve been doing, but first,” she said and turned to Kara’s double. “Your Lena wants to talk with you,” she said. “She’s waiting in my room.”  
  
Alarm splashed across the face of Kara’s double and she seized Lena’s hand tightly. “Is something—”  
  
“Nothing’s wrong,” Lena said, not sure how true such a statement was considering the circumstances. “She just wants to talk.”  
  
“I would be more than happy to escort her,” Gideon suggested. Lights along the floor illuminated forming a path that led off the bridge and towards the living quarters.  
  
Kara’s double nodded. “Thank you, Gideon.” She let go of Lena’s hand and strode quickly off the bridge, the sounds of her footfalls very quickly fading away. 

When they faded completely, Lena reached over to tap a few keys on the console. The lights dimmed and once more dozens of holographic displays popped into being around them, each of them playing the same footage that they had seen just hours before. Dozens of other Earths, some of them so different that they looked like alien worlds peeled from the cover of a pulp magazine. 

“We think that we’ve found a loophole,” Lena said when she saw that she had everyone’s attention.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell the other Kara that?” Zari asked, sitting up straighter in her seat.  
  
“I’m sure her Lena wanted to be the one to tell her,” Alex said.  
  
Lena nodded. “Yes, she did. What we found, what we _think_ we found, it’s not even technically a loophole,” she said. “It’s really more like hitting a reset button.” In her mind’s eye, Lena could see a big red button under glass with the obligatory: break glass in case of emergency printed across it.  
  
Lena pointed up to some of the screens above and she found her gaze drawn momentarily to one that showed another version of Kara and herself sitting on the hood of a car. They were perched at the very edge of a bluff overlooking an ocean. The sky above was bursting with stars and while the two of them seemed to have intentionally kept some space between them, Lena watched as the distance slowly waned until their shoulders pressed closer together and Kara’s head came to rest on Lena’s shoulder. 

“Earth-19 Lena talked about constants in the Multiverse.” Lena pointed first to Kara and then to herself. Kara and I are evidently two of them but I think that it’s more than just that... On every one of these Earths we’re—”

Mick raised his hand halfheartedly in the air. “Bumping uglies.”  
  
“In love,” Nate said, hand raised high like he was waiting for a teacher to call on him.  
  
“We’ll go with’ in love,’” Lena said, finding Nate’s interpretation far more palatable than Mick’s. "Although I don't know if I would consider love quantifiable, but for now, let's go with. We’ll need to look at their research more in-depth, maybe get a bigger sample size but if on every Earth we’re meant to meet one another, meant to fall in love…” She blushed, glancing over at Kara who had settled back into her seat and was watching Lena with rapt attention. “I don’t know why or how it happens, I don’t even think the versions of us from Earth-19 could tell you but if I had to hazard a guess, the constants in the multiverse act as a kind of glue keeping everything together, keeping every Earth in the Multiverse connected and separate at the same time. What we do on one Earth shouldn't affect another but there is some kind of connection between all of them, it's how we can travel there in the first place."

“And how does that factor into your reset button idea? Alex asked.

“If I’m right, the commonalities that exist on every Earth in the multiverse. Kara and me, other places and people, their very existence are in some way necessary. It’s something that needs to occur, needs to exist in some form. Which means that if we go back to the point in time before Earth 19’s Kara and Lena meet, we should be able to make minor alterations without putting the timeline in jeopardy. That particular point in time should be more malleable, more open to change than most as long as the two of them meet. We can leave them just enough information to stop this present from ever happening. That should be enough.”  
  
“Like rebooting your computer to a restore point,” Ray said. “We wouldn’t be changing time exactly, we'd just be resetting it to an earlier point.”  
  
“Essentially. As I said, this is still nothing but a theory but using Zari’s program proved that it is possible. We just need more data to minimize the chances that we screw something up irrevocably trying to fix things.” 

“So, just another day for us then,” Zari said. “When exactly did the two of them meet?”  
  
“Over a decade ago…” Lena said, letting the gravity of what she was telling them sink in. “Which means—”  
  
“It will be like the two never met,” Sara finished for her. “This isn’t like fixing an anachronism. It would be erasing their entire life together. Not just them but for everyone.”  
  
Lena squirmed uncomfortably as if she had just found herself the subject of a particularly bright spotlight. “I know that! If there was any other way… Maybe if we had more time we could come up with a better solution, find an actual loophole,” Lena pleaded, wishing more than anything that there was.  
  
“But we don’t.”  
  
Lena was surprised to hear her own voice and looked up to see both her and Kara’s double standing in the doorway. They were holding one another tightly and Lena could tell that the both of them had been crying.  
  
“Our backs have been against the wall for a long time now,” Lena’s double said and Kara’s doppelganger nodded stiffly in agreement. “This is the best chance, the only chance that we have. My Kara gave you two days… We’ll make the necessary preparations by then.”  
  
“You’ll have plenty of help,” Alex said. She stood up and looked around at the others and got a series of nods from everyone in return. “I don’t know much about time travel and I know even less about the Multiverse but I’ll do whatever I can.”  
  


* * *

  
  
The way that they broke off into groups was done without much discussion. While most of the Legends stayed on the bridge to do a very thorough inspection of the Waverider, Kara, Lena, Alex, and their Earth-19 counterparts returned to the lab to delve into the mountains of research that they had brought back. There were several years of research that would have been nearly impossible to chew through if not for the fact that both Kara and Lena’s doppelgangers were able to give a very succinct summary of their research. Their findings while far from conclusive were promising enough that Lena’s initial assessment of their way forward remained unchanged. 

"We would have focused our research more heavily around constants in the Multiverse if we knew how important it was going to be.” Lena’s double smiled and glanced over at her Kara who was reading the notes she was going over so quickly that the screen was nothing but a blur of light and color, her eyes sliding from left to right like the carriage of a typewriter.  
  
“Kara’s double nodded in agreement, reading for a bit longer before looking up from her tablet. “How will we know that we won’t just be repeating the same mistakes as before.” She set the tablet down and looked almost accusingly at Kara. “If all this is for nothing…”  
  
“I’ve spent the last few years helping to fix and protect the timeline,” Lena said. “ _This_ is something completely new but the principles remain the same. Too large of a change might be risky. A nudge will be enough and Zari’s program is still giving us the all-clear which means it will work, I promise.”  
  
“So just killing Lillian and Lex is out of the question?” Kara’s double asked, her gaze turning bitterly cold in an instant. “Wouldn’t that be the simplest solution?” 

Lena couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at the bluntness of her statement. “It would be, but that would probably be a little bit more than a nudge, I’m afraid. What you do later is up to you, but changing too much at once... It's seldom a good idea. Time can be surprisingly delicate."

“And what kind of nudge did you have in mind?” Lena’s double asked.  
  
Lena smiled and pointed to a drawer closer to Kara who opened it for her without even needing to be asked. When Kara pulled out a yellow notepad that they sometimes used to secretly pass notes to one another when Ray was working in the lab alongside them, Lena took it from her and slid it across the table towards their doppelgangers. She fished around in her pocket for a pen and pulled one out and rolled it towards them. “Does ‘Back to the Future’ exist on your Earth?”  
  
Earth-19 did have a movie with somewhat of a similar plot to Back to the Future but Lena still felt it was best to explain anyway. Not that explaining the plot of a movie that she had fallen asleep halfway through was the easiest thing in the world to do. She had been half-tempted to call in Ray and Nate to better explain but thought that the risk of the two of them getting sidetracked was far too great. 

A letter would surely make waves but Lena thought that they would be small ones. Ripples that the timeline could bear without any real damage and it would help them steer around the giant Titanic-sinking iceberg that was her family. All they needed to be sure of was that it was delivered at the correct time. It was something that they could trust the Legends to handle. Delivering a letter would rank as perhaps the easiest job they had ever been given as well as the most important. 

Wanting to give the two of them privacy, Alex, Kara, and Lena vacated the lab and returned to the bridge where the rest of the Legends were still gathered. The Waverider’s inspection had revealed that everything was for once in perfect working order. They had gone a long stretch of time without running afoul of a massive Timequake or taking fire from space pirates which meant that all the team could do was wait until Kara and Lena’s counterparts from Earth-19 were ready.  
  


* * *

  
  
The pile of tightly balled up pieces of paper had grown steadily higher over the last hour and the Kara from Earth-19 had watched it grow with mounting apprehension. The job seemed so simple at first but actually putting pen to paper made her quickly realize just how much she had to say. How much she wanted to remember…  
  
“I don’t think I can write any smaller without my hand cramping,” Lena said. She turned the notepad closer to Kara to show off the minuscule script she had adopted in an attempt to fit more on the page. “Probably wasn’t a good idea to try and fit the entirety of our wedding into the letter.” She shook out her hand and crumpled up the sheet.  
  
Lena set the pen down, placed her hand momentarily over her chest, and searched Kara’s face for a hint of discomfort or pain before she continued. “I still can’t dance,” Lena said and brushed daintily at the corner of her eyes. “How many times did I step on your feet that night?” A hundred?”  
  
Kara smiled and shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you. The only thing I remember about dancing with you that night was how lucky I felt. How happy I was that I had found you, that you chose me.” She took a breath and tried to hold it, to keep it up as a barrier between herself and the ache in her chest, and felt it break on through just the same, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “And now we have to forget all of that.” She took a small gulp of air and began to cry.  
  
Before she could brush the tears away, Lena’s hand was there, cupping her cheek as gentle as could be, her fingers tracing along the contour of her jaw. “I don’t want to forget either. I want to remember all of it…” She traced a hand down to Kara’s collarbone where a twisted scar remained. It was all the evidence that remained of one of the many attempts on her life by Lex. A kryptonite dagger that had thankfully missed a vital area. “But if forgetting means that we can be together without _this_ keeping us apart.” She placed a hand over her chest and clenched her hand into a tight fist. “If it means a chance that I get to be with you longer… If I get a chance to fall in love with you all over again? I’m ready. We'd have a chance to get everybody back that we lost..."  
  
“You make it sound so easy…” Kara shook her head, wanting to believe, but not quite able to make that leap, not after everything that had happened. Not when it felt like the deck had been so unfairly stacked against them for so long. 

Lena tilted her head at an angle and looked confused as she reached up to wind a lock of Kara’s hair around her index finger. “Falling in love with you again? Yeah, I think that will be easy. Don’t you?” Her mouth curved into a smirk that Kara hadn’t seen in a very long time and she caught a glimpse of Lena as she was before they had begun living on borrowed time. Back when they laughed more and the world seemed to be full of so much more color. “Am I that hard to love?”  
  
“No,” Kara choked out, eyes brimming with tears as she leaned into Lena’s touch. “Loving you was never hard.” Her voice shook and even as she felt the slow insidious creep of the kryptonite poisoning beginning to take hold she let her head rest against Lena’s shoulder. “I’m so afraid that I’ll mess something up again,” she said in a voice no louder than a whisper. So great was her fear that Kara would have rather not even speak it aloud. “I’m afraid that we won’t find each other again…”

Lena delicately traced a finger along the side of Kara’s face, leaning closer than she usually let herself get to her, knowing how dangerous it could be for Kara, close enough to whisper in her ear. “I’ll find you and you’ll find me, my love. I promise.” She brushed a tear away and pulled away from Kara reluctantly. “I almost forgot,” she said, blinking away her tears as she reached for the notepad again.  
  
She scribbled something at the very bottom of the page in a lilliputian postscript that she showed Kara a moment later.  
  
Kara craned her neck to get a better look at the paper and bit back a sob. “Lots and lots of them,” she said and pulled Lena in for a kiss.

* * *

  
The sun was just beginning to set when Lena realized that they had run out of reasons to delay any longer. They had run the scenario through Zari’s program at least a few hundred times and gotten the green light every single time. The letter that their doppelgangers had written was stowed safely in the desk in the Captain’s quarters and they knew what point in time they would be taking the Waverider.  
  
There were still more tests, more research that could be done, and while it was tempting to delay, she knew that there was no reason to. The science was not the reason she was hesitating, it was the gravity of what they were about to do and how unfair it was. 

Convincing herself to delay would have been easy enough but when she had floated the idea of spending one more day to do more research by her double she had been firmly rebuffed.  
  
“When you’re ready,” Lena said, “you’ll have to leave the Waverider and then we’ll make the trip back to the day before you two met…”  
  
“Will things unfold exactly the same way?” Kara’s double asked. “Will we still meet one another in the lobby of L-Corp?”  
  
“You _will_ meet again,” Lena assured her. “But there’s always the chance that things could unfold a bit differently. “How you meet is less important than the mere fact that you will.”  
  
“It sounds a lot like drinking,” Mick said. “Doesn’t really matter what I drink as long as I do. I end up with a hangover either way.”  
  
“What a charming analogy, Mr. Rory,” Gideon snarked. “One must wonder why you of all people have remained single your entire time aboard the ship.”  
  
“Anyway,” Lena said, shooting Mick a dirty look. “Whenever you two are ready. You’re more than welcome to postpone… We could do more research… Make sure we’ve really exhausted all our options…”  
  
“No,” Lena’s double said. “We’re ready now. I’m afraid if we wait any longer we’ll lose our nerve…” She looked at her Kara who nodded in agreement.  
  
“ _We’re_ ready.”  
  
“Let us walk you out,” Kara suggested, already standing up.  
  
“We’ll do one last diagnostics check while you do,” Sara said. “Can never be too careful.”  
  
“I’ve been on this ship a long time,” Nate said, “And I have literally _never_ heard Sara suggest we double-check anything. That must mean she really likes you two.”  
  
“They remind me of two of my favorite people,” Sara said, smiling. “A list that Nate won’t find himself on for a while…”

“Routine safety checks should _really_ be mandatory by now,” Ava muttered as she stood up and walked over to where Kara and Lena’s doppelgangers stood. “Good luck, you two.”  
  
“Take care of your princess,” Mick said, exchanging a curt nod with Kara’s doppelganger.  
  
“My program has never been wrong before,” Zari said, standing up and wrapping up Lena’s double in a tight hug. “Everything will work out, I promise.” 

“If there’s a Ray Palmer on your Earth, I really hope you two cross paths someday.” Ray grinned. “I have a feeling we’d be friends on your Earth too.”  
  
Kara’s double smiled begrudgingly. “Anything’s possible.”

“Hope you don’t mind if I walk you out too,” Alex said. She had risen from her seat and taken an almost timid step towards Kara’s double.  
  
“No…" Kara's double said softly and smiled when Alex put a hand on her shoulder. "I don’t mind at all.”

* * *

  
With the Waverider still hovering high over what remained of this Earth’s National City, the ramp that they normally disembarked from opened to nothing but an empty sky. With night quickly approaching, the low light that remained made the city below appear to be made out of very sharp corners and edges.  
  
“We’ll keep our comms open,” Lena said. “When you're ready, just let us know.” 

Kara nodded in agreement. “Only when you’re ready.”  
  
The other Kara smiled appreciatively and shook her head. “If Lena’s ready… I’m ready.” She took a deep breath and took a step towards Kara and reached out and took her gently by the shoulders. “Take good care of your Lena. The world comes after her, _always_ .”  
  
“Lena comes first,” Kara agreed softly before wrapping her double in a very firm embrace.  
  
Lena’s doppelganger shuffled forward and caught Lena’s eye. “I tried to push Kara away when I was hurting the most. She refused to leave me… Don’t try and run from yours again, because if she’s anything like mine… She’ll be too stubborn to stop looking.”  
  
“My Kara is _very_ stubborn,” Lena said and stole a brief glance back at Kara before she hugged her other self. “We’ll remember for you,” Lena whispered as she pulled away from the hug.  
  
“You two be safe,” Alex said. “Do you annoy your Alex with how in love you are like these two do to me?” She jerked her head towards Kara and dodged a swat from Lena without looking. 

“We _will_ ,” Kara’s double said and hesitated for a moment before she let Alex wrap her up in a hug.

“Can’t ever catch a break,” Alex teased, kissing Kara’s double on the cheek before she let her break away from the embrace.  
  


* * *

After what felt like a very long time, even though Lena knew it could have only been a few minutes at the most, the comms on the bridge crackled to life. There were a few moments of silence that Lena found unbearable, her fingers digging deep into the arms of her chair. She could just make out her and Kara's doppelgangers hovering below them, just above what little remained of this Earth's L-Corp building. There was no balcony left for them to land on but there would be again. Not that they would ever know that it had been gone in the first place. This future would be even less than a memory to them. If any of it remained it would be but a dream of a dream.

They were floating and to Lena, it almost looked like they were dancing. Lena's double was standing on the tops of her Kara's feet and they were slowly spinning in place bathed in the last vestiges of the weak evening sun as it crept beneath the horizon.

_“We’re ready..."_

* * *

  
**_Earth-19_ **

There was always a very narrow window in the mornings where Kara could both grab a coffee and a table at the cafe she liked to frequent after a night of patrolling the city. She had made a very small detour on her way over to pluck someone’s kitten from a tree and had found herself in a line that had begun to wind itself around the corner. 

Feeling a wave of sympathy for the baristas working that morning she covered her mouth with the back of her hand to stifle a yawn and moon over the baked goods display that was well picked over. When her name was called, she wove through the crowd to pick up her drink and even though the cafe was packed she still found herself taking one desperate look around for an empty table the same way a shipwrecked sailor might scan the horizon for any sign of a rescue boat. 

Every table was full up but there was an empty chair at a corner table that looked to have been placed there as more of an afterthought than anything else. The table itself was already occupied, however. A woman who appeared to be oblivious to the buzz of conversation all around her was seated in her chair at a slight angle so that she was resting against the wall as she typed away on her computer, a coffee perched dangerously close to the edge of the table that she reached for every now and again.  
  
_Author of the next great American novel,_ Kara thought. Her and the other dozen people in the cafe who had picked a noisy cafe of all places to work. She turned to go, fully aware that she was occupying space that someone else still stuck outside waiting to order would be more than happy to occupy but found herself frozen to the spot. She had spent the better part of last night leapfrogging from building to building all over the city, dismantling a large weapons smuggling operation that had sent her zipping around the city with no time to rest. She wanted to sit even for just a minute and while she had no idea why she wanted to ask the woman if she really was writing the next great American novel.  
  
Slipping through the crowd as best she could without knocking anything or anybody over she sidled closer to the table tucked away in the corner, not quite sure what she was doing. She could fly home and be there in under a minute or she could find a bench outside and people watch until she finished her coffee but here she was about to bother a complete stranger for a chair she would probably lie and say was saved for someone who didn't even exist.  
  
"Would you mind if I sit here for a minute?"  
  
"Uhh..." The woman looked up from her laptop screen, looking almost surprised to find herself in a cafe as if she had somehow wandered in and sat down by mistake.  
  
"You don't have to say yes," Kara said quickly. "If you have somebody coming to meet you or you want to lie and say that there is... My sister does that all the time... You look so busy. Honestly, I don't even know why I came over here..."  
  
"I assume you wanted to sit down," the woman said, smirking a little. She pointed to the seat and sat up, working a kink out of her neck while she did. "Go right ahead. I probably should have ordered more if I wanted to keep a table all to myself." She pointed to the half-finished muffin half-hidden behind her laptop.  
  
"Oh, I just ordered a black coffee," Kara said, sitting down and scooting her chair closer to the table to better let people past. "I did spend like ten minutes staring at their muffins though so, probably generated a lot of good word of mouth for them."  
  
"It's working already." The woman smiled and looked almost confused as to why. She looked back down at her laptop, tapped a few keys, and then closed it, folding her hands on top of it looking very business-like. "I'm Lena," she said, unclasping one of her hands so that she could offer it to her.  
  
"Kara. Kara Danvers. Resident table-crasher."  
  
Lena chuckled. "I was spinning my wheels anyway. I was hoping the hustle and bustle might do enough to knock something loose but no such luck. Kara," she said, steepling her fingers. "You don't work at L-Corp, do you?"  
  
"L-Corp?" Kara shook her head. "No, I definitely don't. I'm actually between jobs at the moment," she said. "Very _long_ between, actually which is why I'm only drinking coffee today. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I don't know," Lena said slowly. "You just... I feel like I've seen you around before, is all." She cocked her head to the side and smiled.  
  
Comprehension dawned and Kara made the connection. "You're Lena."  
  
"Yes," she agreed, chuckling. "You remember my name better than the baristas here, at least. They call me _Lana_ every time I come in here, I'm starting to think that it's on purpose."  
  
"I mean you're _the_ Lena. L-Corp Lena."  
  
Lena cleared her throat and nodded sheepishly. "Yes," she said, not sounding very surprised to hear that she had made the connection, maybe because of how she sometimes couldn't stay out of the news cycle no matter how hard she tried to. "Please don't throw your coffee on me," she said, half-joking.  
  
Kara giggled. "Like I said, between jobs so all of this coffee is strictly for drinking, not for throwing and I would _never_ do that. Your company is doing amazing things." Kara pointed to Lena's closed laptop. "I thought you were writing a novel," she admitted.  
  
"Creative writing has never been a strong suit of mine. I have some awful poetry from boarding school that is testament to that..." She glanced down at her hands that were once again folded neatly in front of her. "Do you come here a lot?"  
  
Kara took a moment to answer before nodding in agreement. "Semi-regular."  
  
"Because I feel like I've met you before..."  
  
"I do too," Kara admitted. "But you're on the news and in the paper...," she said, somehow knowing that it was more than just that. "Not that your pictures do you justice, at all..." She had brought her coffee to her lips and upon realizing what she said, nearly slopped some out onto herself in a bid to hide her reddening face. "Not that you don't look great in your pictures... she said quickly, digging herself an even deeper hole. Reaching up a hand to cover her face in shame and maybe after that make for the door and then find a new usual coffee place, she felt her heart begin to thump faster when Lena caught it between both of her own. Not really holding it but something in between, something more tentative. 

It should have been second-nature for her to slip her hand free and make as many apologies as she could on her way out of the cafe but she found but just as she was drawn to approach her in the first place, she felt rooted there, _wanting_ to be here, right here. There was a mounting perplexity not only on her own face but on Lena's as well. There are questions, ones that she doubted there would ever be answers for even if asked, and most surprisingly of all, there are tears that she doesn't understand in the slightest not just on her face but on Lena's as well.

* * *

  
The relief that the Legends felt upon seeing glimpses of Earth 19's historical record after jumping back to the present was so great that there had been a chorus of nervous laughter when they saw a National City that was whole and untouched. There were other photos, snippets, and newspaper clippings that while not telling a complete story filled in just enough blanks so that they knew that Earth's Kara and Lena were safe, that they had found their way back to one another. The laughter quickly turned into raucous cheers and those morphed into tears of relief. It had been tempting to dig deeper, to watch how things unfolded between the Kara and Lena of Earth-19 but when Gideon had offered to show more, it had been Kara that had refused.  
  
"It would be like spying," she had said and after brushing a few tears away she had ushered everyone off the bridge and down towards the galley drawing everyone into a conversation about what they should have for dinner. 

Even after several hours of celebrating, Lena still didn't feel the least bit tired. Lying in bed beside Kara with her curled up next to her and cocooned in most of their blankets it was easy to slip out of bed and tread as quietly as she could out the door. She waited for a moment outside listening for any signs that Kara had woken up and when she heard nothing she padded down the hall in her bare feet wishing that she had the foresight to grab her slippers on the way out.  
  
Walking two doors down, she let out a breath she had been holding in before knocking gently. She heard muffled swearing and several things being knocked over from inside before the door slid open and she found herself face to face with a bleary-eyed Alex.  
  
"Everything's fine," Lena said before Alex could start to worry. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, wondering if she shouldn't have simply waited until the morning to ask her, knowing that would have meant a sleepless night.  
  
"Thank God," Alex said and leaned against the doorway. "So that fabricator just makes as much alcohol as you want... Probably for the best that I didn't come along the first time," she said, pressing a finger against her temple.  
  
"If there is a limit, I'm sure that Mick would have found it by now," Lena joked. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you," she said.  
  
"Right now?" Alex gestured lazily to her hair that was already mussed and by morning would probably be tangled at least on one side.  
  
"It can't wait," Lena said apologetically and peeked back over her shoulder where Kara was still sleeping.  
  
Alex rubbed at her eyes, locked eyes with Lena, and perked up enough to shuffle back and invite Lena inside.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading. Some incoming fluff next chapter. My New Year's resolution was to write more so next chapter will be out much quicker.
> 
> Come ask me things about my other wip's or bother me for updates [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/inkedroplets)


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